The Winds of Change
by majiklmoon
Summary: Imagine what would have happened if Max had healed Maria instead of Liz that day in the CrashDown.
1. Default Chapter

**Disclaimer:** Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. If I was lucky enough to own them, you just know the show would still be on the air, and you be watching that instead of reading this.

**Rating:** PG-13 to R for inappropriate language and some violence.

**Author's Note:** There was supposed to be an episode in Season Three that involved some sort of time distortion with everybody going back to the day Liz got shot. This is that story. Some of the dialogue is paraphrased from The Pilot, written by Jason Katims. No infringement is intended at all. He was the genius behind the Pilot.

_Winds of Change_

**Chapter One** – _A Stranger is Watching_

He peered into the CrashDown through the large plate glass window. Max Evans sat in a booth, pretending to study, but in actuality, he was studying Liz Parker. Liz, on the other hand was working hard on ignoring Max completely while she delivered plates of food to the many customers in her parent's café. But instead, her glance kept meeting his, and each time it did, a stain of color appeared on her cheeks.

Things were not going well at all, he thought. Nothing could seem to drive these two apart. Together they were the key to Antar's salvation. If they were kept apart, Antar would remain enslaved by Kivar. He would do everything in his power to make sure that the couple did not remain together. He knew what he had to do. The attempt could very well kill him, but it would be worth it. He knew he wasn't ever going to leave this planet. The only way off was with the aid of the Granolith. He was here alone; he'd been alone ever since that genocidal bitch had wiped out the others. Death would be welcomed friend. He'd greet her with opened arms as soon as he set his plan in motion. Giving them one final glance in the window, the man walked away, unconsciously peeling a dry strip of skin from his face.

The alarm clock rang, it's piercing shriek pulling Liz Parker from the arms of a phantom lover. She groaned and reluctantly rolled over and brought her hand crashing down on the offending appliance, sending it crashing to the floor of her bedroom.

"I'm up, I'm up," she muttered to the empty room. "I just don't want to be."

Liz sat up and pushed the bed sheet off of her already warm body. It was going to be another hot day in Roswell, and a busy one at that. The UFO convention was slated to begin today, and while she enjoyed all the money she'd make, she hated the thousands of UFO-maniacs that flooded the town.

Sighing, she climbed out of the bed and stumbled across the room to her bathroom. She turned the shower on full blast, and climbed in and let the streaming water pour down around her, pounding remorselessly on her body.

Liz turned the water off and wrapped a large towel around her body to absorb the moisture that clung to her in large droplets. She wiped the steam away from the mirror and stared at her reflection. Would she ever find someone to love her the way the phantom in her dreams did? Sure there was Kyle, and he was nice, but he wasn't the dream lover who crept into her dreams every night.

Liz shook her head, trying to clear away the foolishness that filled her mind. She didn't have time for this. Her parents needed all the help they could get in the café today. She quickly dried her hair and pinned it up before she slipped into her uniform. She tied on her apron and grimaced when she anchored the alien deelie boppers her father insisted she wear on her head.

"Max Evans is looking at you again," Maria said.

"No way," said Liz, turning away from the register to look over to the booth where Max Evans was sitting with his taciturn friend Michael Guerin.

"He is," Maria insisted. "He is so hot for you."

"Maria, you're terrible," said Liz. "Besides, I'm with Kyle, remember?"

"Oh please, as if Kyle Valenti were even in the same class as Max Evans. It's like comparing prime rib to hamburger, and Chica, Max is so **not** the hamburger."

The two girls laughed for a minute before they resumed their duties in the busy café. Liz delivered two platters to a couple of alien hunters, pausing when she heard shouting behind her. She turned just as the one of the men stood up, sending the dishes on the table crashing to the floor.

A shocked silence filled the café until one of the men pulled out a gun.

"Liz!" Maria yelled as the patrons of the CrashDown scrambled out of their seats and onto the floor. A sharp crack filled the air, and Liz felt something collide with her body, propelling her to the floor.

Liz sat up and looked around. "Maria?" she called. "Oh my God, Maria!" She crawled across the floor to where Maria's body rested on the floor. A small pool of blood was forming on her abdomen.

"Call and ambulance," Max Evans said, kneeling down beside her.

"What?" Liz asked, still frozen by the events that had just occurred.

"Liz, do you hear me?" Max asked, staring deeply into her eyes. "I said go call an ambulance.

Liz shook herself from her reverie and jumped and collided with Max's friend Michael. Michael glared at her, but gave her a gentle shove in the direction of the phone.

"Maxwell, keys!" Michael yelled.

Max reached into his pocket and pulled his keys out and tossed them to Michael who caught them and ran from the restaurant. Max ripped open the front of Maria's uniform and stared at the pool of blood that was spreading across her abdomen.

"Maria, you have to look at me," he said. "Open your eyes and look at me. He pressed his hand to her abdomen, and images of Maria as a child filled is mind. He saw her skipping through the playground at school with a small dark haired waif wearing a dress with cupcakes on it. He pulled his hand away, and the wound was healed.

Max grabbed a bottle of ketchup, smashed it on the counter and poured the contents on Maria's uniform.

"You broke the bottle when you fell and spilled ketchup on yourself. Please don't say anything."

"I," Maria began, but Max had already run from the café.

If you want to spoil and speculate, come on down to the spoilers and speculation thread at my board and have at it.


	2. Chapter 2 Connections

**Disclaimer:** Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. If I was lucky enough to own them, you just know the show would still be on the air, and you be watching that instead of reading this.

**Rating:** PG-13 to R for inappropriate language and some violence.

_Winds of Change_

**Chapter Two** – _Connections_

"Lizzie! Oh my God, Lizzie, are you okay?" a concerned Jeff Parker yelled, running into the restaurant. "Is that blood?"

"Relax, dad, I'm fine," said a shaky Liz. "It's just ketchup from a bottle that broke when Maria fell."

"Maria? Maria, are you okay?" Jeff asked. "Oh, God, look at you, Maria, are you sure you're okay?"

"Y-yeah," Mr. Parker," Maria said, her voice wobbling a bit. "Like Liz said. I splashed ketchup on myself when I fell."

"As long as you to girls are okay," said Jeff. "That's the most important thing." He hugged first Maria, then Liz tightly. Liz could feel his fear like it was a palpable thing. He was so afraid, but it was his fear that made Liz realize that she had to keep what just happened a secret.

"Liz," Maria whispered. "What the hell just happened?"

"I don't know," Liz said. "But I'm going to find out. Just don't say anything, okay?"

"Say anything to who?" asked Maria. "Who'd believe me?"

"Liz, he saved me," Maria said. She rearranged herself so that she sat more comfortably on Liz's bed. "I was dying, and he saved me. He – he touched my soul. It was almost like he could see into it, and I could see into his."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Liz, remembering how she felt when she looked into Max Evans eyes for that fleeting second. She felt as if she were falling, and the only safe haven she would find would be in Max's eyes. She perched on the windowsill, enjoying the feeling of the curtains blowing around her as she and Maria talked.

"So what happened, anyhow?" asked Maria. "The whole thing is kind of a blur."

"What do you remember?" asked Liz, cautiously.

"Those two guys were arguing," said Maria. "The next thing I knew, there was a gun. I remember screaming at you, and then I felt as if someone shoved me, and I went flying into you. After I hit you, I felt this thud, almost like I got hit with during a dodge ball game or something. That's the last thing I remember."

"I remember you screaming, and pushing into me, but that's about it," Liz admitted. "You saved my life, Maria. If you hadn't shoved me, that bullet would of hit me, I'm positive."

"Chica, I love you, you know that, but I have to be honest. I didn't set out to save you," said Maria. "I felt like I was rooted to the ground. I couldn't have moved if I wanted to. I'm telling you, someone shoved me into you."

"It doesn't matter how you did it," said Liz. "All that matters is that you did do it. Thank you, Maria."

"Damn it," Nicholas swore softly. He crouched under Liz's bedroom window, eavesdropping on the conversation between her and Maria. He plan was perfect, and it would have worked if that foolish blond waitress hadn't gotten in his way. He waited until the exact right second, when the human had pulled out his gun. Nicholas rushed across the café, intent on killing Liz just as the bullet struck her when that ditzy blond shifted slightly, causing him to collide with her. The momentum of his body striking hers drove her forward into Liz Parker, knocking her to the ground.

"Look, Chica, I've got to go," he heard the blond say. "I'll keep quiet, for now, but if we don't get some answers soon, I'm going to Sheriff Valenti."

Nicholas peered in the window and watched the two friends hug each other. This was perfect, he thought to himself. Once the blond left, he'd finish Liz off, and no one would be the wiser. He ducked down and scrambled away from the window as Liz crossed her small room.

Liz climbed out onto the rooftop patio off of her room and walked to the edge to call out a goodbye to her friend. She leaned on the low wall that stood between her and the edge of the roof and looked up into the sky. Millions of stars seemed to twinkle down upon her looking like diamonds spread upon a black velvet cloth. 

Abruptly, Liz spun around and walked over to the fire escape. She flung one leg over the side to climb down. A noise across the patio drew her attention and she paused, trying to locate its origin. She waited, but the sound didn't reoccur. She shrugged her shoulders and continued her descent to street level.

Once on the ground, Liz stopped, unsure of what she wanted to do. Finally, she decided to just start walking. She turned a corner and collided with what felt like a rock wall.

"Umph," she said, falling to the ground. "Oh, hey, I'm really sorry. I guess I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Watch it," said a familiar male voice.

"Oh, Michael, hi, how are you doing?"

"Go away, Liz," Michael said, his voice taciturn. "And stay away, and tell you're dippy friend to do the same."

"What?" said Liz, shocked at Michael's abruptness.

"Stay away from us," Michael repeated. "And the same goes for Maria." He turned away and walked down the street, fading into the darkness.

"Michael, wait!" Liz called to the empty street.

Liz sat quietly in the study carrel in the library, focusing not on the schoolwork in front of her but in the whispered conversation that was being carried on across from her.

"It's weird," the voice said. "I felt this connection with her. I could see into her soul, and it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

"What you did was stupid," said another voice. "And it put us all in jeopardy. Why did you do it, anyhow?"

"You know why," said the first voice. "I had to."

"No you didn't _have_ to, and now you've brought all this attention down on us. We're in danger. I say we leave now, before it's too late."

"We're not going to leave," the second voice said calmly, an oasis of calm in the stormy sea that surrounded him. "We're just going to go on, living our lives the exact same way. Nothing has changed."

"Everything has changed!"

"Guess who?" said a voice from behind her. A pair of hand covered her eyes, and Liz screamed softly.

"Kyle," she cried. "Stop it."

"I was worried about you, Liz," Kyle said, pulling up a chair and sitting down beside her. "Dad told me what happened yesterday at the café."

"Everything's fine, Kyle. But I'm really trying to study," she said over the scrambling sounds that came from the study carrel across from her.

She looked up to see Michael Guerin staring down at her, his eyes as hard as granite. Next to him stood Max Evans, his golden brown eyes watching her intently. She swallowed deeply, trying to tamp down the sudden feelings of fear and excitement that rose up inside of her. Liz broke the connection first, looking down at the papers on the table in front of her for a second. When she looked up again, Michael and Max were gone.


	3. Chapter 3 Remembering

**Disclaimer:** Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. If I was lucky enough to own them, you just know the show would still be on the air, and you be watching that instead of reading this.

**Rating:** PG-13 to R for inappropriate language and some violence.

_Winds of Change_

**Chapter Three** – _Remembering_

The sounds of cutlery scraping against china rang in Liz Parker's ears. She shook her head, trying to focus, when her best friend Maria stopped her.

"Max Evans is looking at you again," Maria said.

"No way," said Liz, turning away from the register to look over to the booth where Max Evans was sitting with his taciturn friend Michael Guerin.

"He is," Maria insisted. "He is so hot for you."

"Maria, you're terrible," said Liz. "Besides, I'm with Kyle, remember?"

"You don't belong with him, Liz. You belong with Max," Maria said, her voice sounding slow and distorted, like it was coming from far away.

"I'm with Kyle," Liz insisted.

"Max, it's Max," said Maria.

Liz turned away, trying to ignore Maria and focus on the rush of customers that filled the CrashDown café. She made countless trips to the window, carrying plates of food back to the tables. With each trip, the plates grew heavier and heavier until she could hardly stand their weight on her arms.

Suddenly, time sped up, and Liz found herself standing in the middle of the CrashDown while people raced around her and talked so quickly she couldn't comprehend the words. She felt a sharp jerk, and time resumed its normal pace. Befuddled by what was happening, Liz shook her head and continued across the café to the counter. A loud crash drew her attention, and she spun towards the noise. A cacophony of screams filled the air, followed by a sharp crack.

Liz felt something push against her midsection, and she fell backwards. It seemed an eternity before she struck the floor of the CrashDown. She laughed to herself, knowing that according to the laws of physics, the fall should have taken a matter of seconds.

"Liz!" she heard Maria scream. She sounded so far away. Liz struggled to sit up, but she couldn't move. It was getting cold, so very cold. She'd have to remember to tell her father that the air conditioner was too high.

"Call an ambulance," she heard a voice say from far away. She felt someone kneel down next to her, and rip her uniform opened. She tried to get them to stop. So cold, she was so cold.

"It's going to be all right," the voice said.

Liz smiled inside. The voice made her feel safe and warm, like nothing bad was ever going to happen to her.

"Liz. Liz! You have to look at me!" the voice called. "You have to look at me!"

Liz struggled to open her eyes, and found herself getting lost in the amber depths of Max Evans eyes. She felt Max put his hand on her stomach. A burst of heat filled her abdomen, warming her to the very depths of her soul. She stared into Max's eyes, seeing images of him as a child. She felt what he felt; the feelings of fear and loss that followed him. She saw him staring, always staring at her and felt the attraction he felt for her, just as he felt the attraction she felt for him.

With a jerk, the connection was severed.

"You're going to be okay," Max said. He reached above her and grabbed something and smashed it on the edge of the counter, and she feels the cool heaviness of ketchup spill over her body, and uniform, mingling with the blood that already stained it.

"You broke the bottle when you fell, spilled ketchup on yourself. Don't say anything, please?" Max whispered.

Before she could say anything, he was gone.

"Max! Max!" Liz yelled. "Max!"

Liz sat up with a jerk, her sheets tangles up around her body. Her breath came in gasps, and her face was covered in a film of sweat.

"Oh God," she whispered to the dark bedroom. "What was that?"

"Liz, honey, are you all right?" her mother called softly through the bedroom door.

"Yeah, um, I'm fine, Mom, Liz said. "I just had a bad dream, that's all."

"Do you want to talk about it?" her mother asked.

"No, I'm okay. I'm just going to go to back to sleep," Liz said. "Goodnight."

"Sweet dreams, sweetie," her mother said.

Liz waited until she heard her parent's bedroom door close before she jumped out of bed. She ran across the room to the mirror, and pulled up her shirt and looked at the reflection of her abdomen.

"There should be something here," she said to the empty room. "He healed me, there should be something here."

Confused, she reached for her journal and climbed back into her bed to record her thoughts.

_It's September 24, and I just had the strangest dream.___

_It was me that Max Evans healed in the CrashDown, and it felt so real, so right, but I know that it isn't true. I was there. I saw him save Maria. It was Maria, not me, and yet, when I woke up, I was so sure it was real. I was searching my body for something. What? An entry wound? I don't have any answers. I don't know how Max healed Maria. What he did was unnatural, but he saved my friend from dying. Maybe we should just accept it as a gift. But my dream, it was real, so very real. I felt the bullet hit me. I could feel the life draining away from me. I need to talk to Max about this. I know I should stay away, but I can't. It's Max._

Liz slipped the pen into the journal and closed it and placed it on her nightstand. She reached over and turned off the small lamp beside her bed. She rearranged her pillows and slid down under her covers.

"Max," she whispered as sleep overtook her.


	4. Chapter 4 Logic vs Intuition

**Disclaimer:** Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. If I was lucky enough to own them, you just know the show would still be on the air, and you be watching that instead of reading this.

**Rating:** PG-13 to R for inappropriate language and some violence.

_Winds of Change_

**Chapter Four** – _Logic vs. Intuition_

Liz Parker sat in biology nervously drumming her pencil on the table while the teacher droned on about genetics and species. Usually, she was utterly focused during biology, but the past few days had been anything but typical.

The dream from the night before stayed with Liz like no other dream had before. She kept touching her stomach, expecting to find something, _anything_ there, but there never was. She listened with half an ear while the teacher explained the instructions for the experiment. She doodled in her notebook while her mind went over the dream again, detail by detail.

_it has to be a dream,_ she thought. _So many things had a dreamlike quality._ Liz flipped to a clean page in her notebook and began to list the items that made her positive that her dream was just a dream.

1. Voices sounding far away.  
2. Time speeding up and slowing down.  
3. Plates of food getting heavy.

When her list was completed, she methodically began to work on a list of things that made her question the dream.

1. Feeling the bullet slam into her.  
2. The connection she felt when Max healed her.  
3. The feeling that it was so real.

The bell rang, shaking Liz from her musings. She looked around with chagrin, realizing that she hadn't accomplished a single step in the experiment during the entire class.

"Problems today, Miss Parker?" the teacher asked, standing beside her table.

Liz hastily tore the piece of paper out of her notebook and stuffed it into her book.

"Just tired, I guess," said Liz. "I didn't sleep well last night."

"Nightmares about what happened in the CrashDown?" the teacher asked, her voice sympathetic.

"Yeah, kind of," said Liz. "I'm sorry, I didn't really get anything done today."

"That's okay," said the teacher, "You can make it up this afternoon, I have a couple of other students coming to do some make up work."

"Thanks," Liz said, ruefully. She'd never had to stay after school for anything.

She grabbed her books and exited the classroom, joining the students that streamed through the halls of West Roswell High. She made her way to her locker and stowed her biology book in side and grabbed her math books. She slammed the locker door shut and started down the hall. She paused by a trashcan and reached into her pocket and pulled out the list she had been working on. She gave it one last look and crumpled it up in a ball and tossed it toward the opening of the receptacle, not knowing or caring if it went in or not. She continued on her way to class, unaware of the person who scooped up the crumpled piece of paper from the floor.

Liz sat at her regular seat in the biology classroom and laid out all the necessary components for the experiment she had failed to complete earlier. Behind her the teacher reviewed the concepts of genus and phylum to a group of students. There was a break in the conversation behind her, and Liz turned to see Max Evans standing in the doorway.

"Hello, Mr. Evans, nice of you to join us," said the teacher. "Why don't you take a seat next to Miss Parker, and the two of you can get to work."

Liz tried to control the emotions that welled up inside of her at the sight of Max Evans, but it was impossible. She found herself staring at him, drowning in his soulful brown eyes. Every nuance of her dream rushed through her mind, and again she could feel Max's hand on her abdomen. She felt the energy course through her body healing her wound. She stared into his eyes and felt the connection strengthen between them.

"Liz, are you okay?" Max asked, putting his books on the table beside her. He stuck his pencil in his mouth and began to flip through his notebook to find a blank sheet.

Wha- oh, I'm fine," she said, startled out of her reverie. She looked down at her notebook, trying to still the rush of color that flooded her cheeks.

"Should we get to work, then?" Max asked, placing the pencil on the table in front of him.

"Okay," said Liz, pleased to have something other than Max's eyes to focus on. She passed a swab and a toothpick to Max. "I need a sample of cells from the inside of your cheek so we can compare them to the vegetable cells Ms. Hardy gave us."

Max's face paled, and he cleared his throat. "Excuse me, Ms. Hardy," he called, raising his hand. "I'm not feeling very well," he said. "Would you mind if I made this lab up tomorrow?"

"You are high maintenance today, Mr. Evans, aren't you?" said the teacher with a sigh. "Very well, you're excused. Liz, just continue on by your self, please."

Liz nodded, blinking back the tears that rushed to her eyes. Obviously, this, more than anything else proved that her dream was just that, a dream. Max Evans didn't share a connection with her. He could barely stand to be in the same room as her. With a sigh, she picked up the toothpick and scraped some cells off of the inside of her cheek. She placed them on the slide in front of her and prepared to slip the slide under the microscope. She spied Max's pencil on the table and an idea began to form in her mind.

Liz reached for the pencil, and used the cotton swab to obtain a sample of Max's saliva. She was about to slip it under the microscope when she felt something collide with her arm.

"Sorry 'bout that," a voice said.

Liz looked up to see Max's friend, Michael Guerin staring down at her.

"Yes Mr. Guerin, can I help you with something?" said Ms. Hardy. "Are you interested in actually participating for a change?"

"No, not really, I just needed to talk to Liz for a second," said Michael, dismissing the teacher with a wave of his hand. "So, I was wondering, do you want to go to a movie or something?"


	5. Chapter 5 Discoveries

**Disclaimer:** Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. If I was lucky enough to own them, you just know the show would still be on the air, and you be watching that instead of reading this.

**Rating:** PG-13 to R for inappropriate language and some violence.

_Winds of Change_

**Chapter Five **– _Discoveries_

"You want to go to a movie with me?" Liz asked, incredulously. "Why?"

"Uh, cause I think you're hot?" Michael said, his voice uncertain.

Liz looked at Michael and burst out laughing. "Could you at least try and _sound_ like you mean it," she said between chuckles. "Look, you don't think I'm hot, in fact, you don't even like me, so why don't you just tell me what's going on."

"Fine, I'll tell you," said Michael. "Stay away from Max Evans. Got it?"

The mention of Max sent shivers running up and down Liz's spine.

"I'm not near Max Evans," said Liz. "In case you haven't noticed Michael, he can't even stand to be in the same classroom with me. I don't think there's much chance of us running away to get married."

"Yeah, whatever," he said resting both hands on the table beside her. "Look, just stay away from him. Don't talk to him, don't look at him, and stop writing about him. The same goes for that crazy friend of yours too. What's her name, Maria? Tell her to stay the hell away from him, and me too."

Michael left the classroom as abruptly as he had entered, and Liz sat alone at the table fuming over his words. _Where did he get off telling her what to do? Who did he think he was, Max's protector or something?_ Liz thought to herself.

The word protector sent a shock wave reverberating through Liz. She didn't know why, but there was something about Michael and that word that affected her. She turned to a fresh sheet of paper in her notebook and quickly jotted down a few observations about her conversation with Michael. She underlined his name several times and linked it with the word protector.

Liz sighed and turned the notebook back to her lab notes. She picked up the swab that had Max's saliva sample on it and made a new slide. She slid it under the microscope and peered through the viewfinder. She looked, then looked again, but there wasn't anything there. It was as if someone had wiped the slide clean.

She sighed and examined the slide she made with the sample from her own cheek. Liz meticulously noted down every detail of her sample versus the vegetable sample in the lab packet the teacher had provided. When she was done, she cleaned up her station and passed in her work.

Liz quickly exited the classroom and traversed the now empty halls of West Roswell High. She peered into the empty classrooms as she passed, looking for any sign of Max Evans. She finally conceded defeat and made her way to the student lounge to get a soda from the machine. She sat at an empty table while she drank it, ostensibly to study her science notes. She flipped open her notebook, thumbing through the pages to find her notes. Instead she found the notes she had scribbled after her confrontation with Michael Guerin.

"Hey Chica, where've you been?" Maria asked, plopping down on a chair next to her.

"I had to make up a lab," said Liz, covering the notebook with her biology book.

"_You_ had to make up a lab? A _science_ lab?" asked Maria. "Has the world stopped spinning? Is the end near?"

"Shut up," said Liz, laughing at her friend's dramatics. "I just kind of zoned out during class today, so the teacher gave me a chance to make it up."

"You're worrying me here, girlfriend. Zoning through classes falls under my job description, not yours. What's wrong?"

"I'm just tired," said Liz. "I had a nightmare last night about what happened in the CrashDown."

"You had a nightmare?" said Maria. "How do you think I feel. There's Max Evans, telling me to look at him. I open my eyes and what do I see, that spiky haired, freaky friend of his, Michael Guerin. Now _that's_ a nightmare."

"Oh my God, you'll never believed who asked me out," said Liz, turning to Maria. "None other than the spiky haired freak himself."

"No way," said Maria. "For real?"

"Yeah way, but not for real," said Liz. "He was warning me away from Max Evans."

"Why? Max is so hot for you. He used to be in the CrashDown all the time, staring at you. The thing I never got is why you don't find him equally hot."

"I keep telling you, I'm with Kyle," said Liz, but her voice lacked conviction.

"Please, Chica, you belong with Kyle about as much as I belong with Max's freakazoid friend," Maria said. "What did he say, anyhow?"

"Nothing much, just told me to not talk to him, don't think about him and don't," she paused for a moment, remembering Michael's final admonition to not write about Max.

"Not to what, Liz?" asked Maria.

"Huh, oh, um, nothing, just more along that vein," said Liz. "Oh, and he wants you to stay away from Max and him, too."

"He what?" Maria roared, her voice echoing slightly in the deserted student lounge. "Where the heck does that bozo get off trying to dictate to me? After all, Max saved my,"

"Maria!" Liz shouted, her voice covering Maria's, but barely. "We're supposed to keep that quiet, remember?"

"I'm going to give that pin headed, Metallica freak a piece of my mind," said Liz.

"Metallica?" said Liz. "Does Michael like Metallica?"

"Loves them," said Maria, reaching into her pocket for the vial of cypress oil she kept in there to sooth her nerves.

"How'd you know that?" asked Liz.

"Know what?" asked Maria, breathing deeply, her eyes shut.

"I don't know. He just looks like the kind of person who likes Metallica, that's all."

The two girls gathered up their belongings, and walked to the parking lot where Maria had left her mother's red Volkswagen Jetta. While Maria drove, Liz closed her eyes and leaned back against the faded upholstery and allowed her mind to wander over the events of the day.

"It was you," Max said to Liz in the sunlit filled band room. "It was you."

Liz started to say something but found that she was no longer in the band room, and instead was in the science lab, staring into a microscope. The sample under the viewer was unlike anything she had ever seen before. She looked up from the microscope and found she was in the band room again, only this time, Max was dressed like one of the guys from the Men in Black movies, and he was pointing up to the sky. Liz took a step closer to him and found herself in the CrashDown. There was a sharp crack, and she felt something collide with her body, and she went falling to the ground.

"Look at me. You have to look at me," a voice called.

Liz's eyes flew open to the passing scenery as Maria drove them to the CrashDown.


	6. Chapter 6 Connect the Dots

**Disclaimer:** Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. If I was lucky enough to own them, you just know the show would still be on the air, and you be watching that instead of reading this.

**Rating:** PG-13 to R for inappropriate language and some violence.

_Winds of Change_

**Chapter Six** – _Connect the Dots _

Liz went through the motions of serving the customers, and cleaning up after them, but her mind was everywhere but on her work. During the lull, she polished same spot on the counter over and over again as her mind worked feverishly trying to solve the riddles that filled her mind.

The tinkling of the bell over the door shook her out of her reverie, and she looked up to see Max Evans and Michael Guerin walk into the café. Michael glared at her, the antagonism, mixed with another emotion she couldn't identify, visible in his eyes.

She schooled her features into an indifferent expression and approached their booth.

"Hi, can I take your order?" she asked.

"Hi Liz," said Max. "I, uh, I wanted to apologize for bolting out of the lab this afternoon. I wasn't feeling very well."

"No problem," said Liz, the hurt she felt reflected in her eyes. "I just did it myself. Now what can I get you?"

"We'll have an order of Saturn Rings," said Michael.

Liz made a quick notation on her pad and walked away before Max could say anything.

"I wanted a cherry coke," Max complained to Michael.

"Yeah, whatever. Why are we here, Max? This is the last place we should be."

"I thought we'd agreed that the best thing we could do was act like nothing had happened," said Max.

"Wrong!" Michael hissed. "That's what _you_ agreed. I never agreed to anything."

Liz placed their order and waited until it was filled watching them out of the corner of her eye as she filled sugar containers.

As soon as the rings were ready, Liz placed them on a tray to which she added two cherry cokes and a bottle of Tabasco sauce. Liz picked up the tray and carried over to the table and placed the rings and drinks in front of the boys, along with the unasked for bottle of Tabasco, and left without a word.

"Maybe she overheard me," Max said, looking at the drink he had wanted but not asked for."

"Yeah, maybe," Michael said, doubtfully. "But how do you explain this?" He held up the bottle of Tabasco sauce like it was something disgusting he had found on the side of the road.

"Michael, we eat here all the time. Maybe she remembered that we always use it," said Max, trying to sound reassuring.

"Sure," said Michael, dumping Tabasco into his soda. "Whatever. Okay, look, you apologized, so can we leave now?"

"Fine, Michael, we'll leave," said Max. He slid out of the booth and slipped his arms into his jacket. "Oh, hey wait a second, Maria just came in. I should go see how she's doing."

"You should be leaving, Maxwell," said Michael, propelling his friend towards the door. "I agreed to the hiding in plain sight thing, but there is no way in hell you need to start hanging around with those two."

Max gave one last long, lingering look at the two girls behind the counter before he allowed Michael to push him out the door into the warm New Mexico evening. Max climbed behind the wheel of the battered Jeep he drove and started the engine.

"You coming?" he asked Michael.

"Uh, actually, I have a couple of things I have to pick up for Hank," Michael said, referring to his foster father.

"Well, I'll wait and drive you home," Max offered. He knew Michael's foster father liked to give Michael a hard time, and he worried about his friend.

"No, it's good," said Michael, looking at the ground. "It'd probably be better if you didn't come around." Hank had been gone for the past couple of days, but Michael wasn't above using him, and his rotten home life as an excuse to get rid of Max for a while. "I'll see you later."

Max nodded and let out the emergency brake. Michael banged on the hood of the Jeep as Max pulled away from the curb. He waited until Max was out of site before he started walking down the side street that would take him to the back of the CrashDown Café.

Nicholas smiled an evil smile as he watched Max leave the seedy little burger joint owned by Liz's parents. He knew that if he could just keep Max and Liz apart, then this time frame would remain a reality. All he had to do was eliminate Liz Parker, and then all his problems would be solved. Or rather, Kivar's problems would be solved. The only way his problems would be solved would be to get him off this God forsaken planet and back to Antar.

Nicholas looked around before he slipped around to the back of the restaurant. He secluded himself in the doorway of an adjacent building and settled back to wait for Liz Parker.

Liz sighed as she carried the last bag of trash out to the dumpster behind the café. She usually hated closing the CrashDown by herself, but tonight she relished the opportunity to go over the events of the past few days in her mind.

She hefted the heavy bag into the dumpster and turned to walk back into the restaurant when she got the eerie feeling that somebody was watching her.

"W-ho's there?" she called softly. "Kyle, is that you?" Liz foolishly stepped away from the safety of he doorway into the middle of the alley. "Hello?" She spun around slowly, but was unable to see anybody in he dark shadows of the night.

The sound of pounding footsteps captured her attention, and she turned in their direction only to be knocked to the ground.

"Liz, get down!" she heard a voice call out to her, followed by an incredibly loud crash and a flash of green light.

"Damn, he got away," the voice said. "Are you okay?"

Liz groaned and pushed herself up onto her hands and knees and turned her head to see who was speaking to her.

"Michael?"

"Yeah," Michael Guerin said brusquely, holding a hand down towards Liz to help her up.

"You shoved me on the ground," said Liz. "Why?" She sounded so confused when she asked why, that Michael was afraid she had a concussion or something. He looked closer at her in the dim light and realized that her confusion was actually fear.

"I was walking down the street, and I saw some guy duck down here," Michael improvised. He looked suspicious, so I followed him."

"You followed him," Liz repeated, dully.

"Look, maybe we should get you inside," Michael said, nudging her towards the still opened door of the café.

They walked through the deserted kitchen and out to the main eating area of the restaurant. Liz sat at the counter and Michael sat in one of the booths and looked at Liz for several minutes. He could see her relaxing bit by bit in the familiar surroundings.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Michael asked, finally. "I'm sorry if I scared you, I never meant for things to get out of control."

"What did you say?" Liz asked. She heard a roaring in her ears and the room seemed to shift a little bit.

"I said I'm sorry that I scared you," Michael repeated. "Look, are you okay? Should I call somebody or something?"

"No, I just got this déjà vu feeling for a second, that's all. It was kind of weird."

"There's a lot of weird things going on here," said Michael, eyeing her speculatively.

"Yeah, there have, starting with Max's miraculous healing of Maria the other day," Liz said, aggressively. "But you know what, I could almost accept that, but there are just too many other weird things happening."

"Like you're knowing Max wanted a cherry coke tonight, you mean?" Michael countered.

"Do you like Metallica?" Liz asked, abruptly changing the subject.

"Yeah, I love them," said Michael, confused by the sudden change in subject.

"Maria was right," Liz said, softly. "Something weird _is_ going on here, and I'm going to figure it out!"


	7. Chapter 7 Shifting Realities

**Disclaimer:** Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. If I was lucky enough to own them, you just know the show would still be on the air, and you be watching that instead of reading this.

**Rating:** PG-13 to R for inappropriate language and some violence.

**Author's Note:** This chapter title gets its name from the wonderful fic by Mt. Gazer.

_Winds of Change_

**Chapter Seven** – _Shifting Realities_

A soft tapping at her window woke Liz from her restless sleep. She looked around the room, but her sleep-fogged brain was unable to locate the source of the noise. She climbed out of her bed and tugged the faded tank that she slept in down to the top of her bikini panties. Yawning, she crossed the room and looked out the window. The cool night air seemed to beckon her, like the siren's song beckoned sailors so long ago.

She raised the window and flung her leg out over the sill and climbed out onto her patio. Goose bumps dotted her flesh from the cool breeze that blew, and she shivered just a bit as she absentmindedly hugged herself. She drifted, without conscious thought over to the telescope that demanded so much of her attention of late. She'd always been interested in the stars, but lately, it seemed she'd had this burning desire to study the night skies, almost as if she were looking for something in particular.

Liz looked through the eyepiece of the telescope, unable to erase the feeling that she somehow knew what she was looking for. Abandoning the telescope after several futile minutes of scanning the night sky, she leaned over the edge of the building, her attention drawn by a scraping sound in the alley.

"Liz!" a voice called softly from the alley.

Liz leaned out over the shallow brick wall and looked down into the alley.

"Who's there?" she whispered.

"It's me, Max. Can I come up?"

Liz looked around, afraid that her parents would appear out of nowhere.

"Sure, come on up," she said, trembling again, only this time it was from excitement, and not from the coolness of the air. She waited for several seconds and heard the scraping sounds of Max ascending the fire escape. His dark head appeared of the edge of the wall, smiling self-consciously.

"Hi," he said, sheepishly.

"Hi, Max," Liz replied. "Why are you here?"

"I don't know," Max admitted. "I couldn't sleep, so I decided to go for a walk, and I just ended up here."

"Here, at the CrashDown?" Liz asked, doubtfully. 

"No, here, in this alley, staring up at your window. It's weird, but it feels like I've done this before."

"Yeah, there's a lot of that going around," Liz said, softly, shivering slightly.

You're cold," said Max, unnecessarily. He slipped out of the denim work shirt he was wearing and draped it carefully over Liz's shoulders. His hands lingered on the lapels of the shirt, and he leaned in closer to Liz, preparing to kiss her.

"Liz, sweetie, are you all right?" a voice called from inside the apartment.

Max jerked his head back and looked regretfully at Liz before he climbed back down the fire escape.

"I'm fine, Mom," she called, softly. "I couldn't sleep, so I came outside to look at the stars."

"It's late, sweetie, come on inside now," Nancy Parker said, leaning out of the window.

Liz gave one last look down at the now empty alley before she turned to face her mother.

"I'm coming, Mom," she said, slipping her arms into the sleeves of the shirt. She could feel the warmth of Max Evans' body caught within the material of the shirt. She paused to chat briefly with her mother before climbing into bed. She slid out of the shirt, and gathered the fabric in her hands. She brought it up to her face and rubbed it against her cheek. She breathed deeply, inhaling the musky sent of Max that clung to the shirt. She laid down, her head pillowed on Max's shirt, and drifted off to sleep.

Nicholas growled angrily as he watched Max Evans run down the alley. He had planned to use his powers to break away at the ledge the Liz had leaned against, but Max's arrival had put an end to that plan. It had to look like an accident, but every time he tried, something happened to foul it up. She had to die; there was no way around it. In order to make this reality permanent, he had to get rid of Liz Parker, and it had to be soon. He could feel his grip on the time distortion slipping. He wasn't sure if he had enough power maintain this reality much longer.

Michael Guerin rummaged through one of the many junk drawers in his foster father's trailer, until he found a pencil. He pushed the screen door open and climbed down the rickety stairs and went to go sit at the decrepit picnic table where he took most of his meals. He flipped open his unused Spanish notebook and stared at the blank page, struggling to see in the dim light from a street lamp.

He could, he knew, go back inside, Hank wouldn't be back from his drinking binge for hours, but he preferred being anywhere to being in the musty trailer he called home.

Almost without conscious thought, he put his pencil to the paper and began to sketch as his mind raced over the events at the CrashDown earlier. He knew there was no way Liz had overheard Max's desire for a cherry cola, and yet she brought it. She also brought the bottle of Tabasco sauce that neither of them had asked for. They had taken to carrying their own bottles of the condiment, rather than drawing attention to themselves by always asking for it.

What happened later troubled him even more. He had been feeling like a stalker, waiting in the deserted alley to talk to Liz. He had waited for what seemed like hours and was preparing to leave when Liz finally appeared, lugging a bag of garbage behind her.

Michael prepared to move toward the door, to confront Liz and find out what she knew when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. He saw a boy step out of the shadows and raise his hand and point it at Liz. He'd never seen the boy before yet he knew with every fiber of being that he was a danger. He reacted without thinking and lunged at Liz, knocking her to the ground, shielding her with his body as a bolt of energy passed harmlessly over their heads.

He made a lame excuse to Liz and prepared to leave when she asked him if he liked Metallica. The strange comment gave him pause, and he answered her. While he was still trying to puzzle out what Metallica had to do with anything, she stunned him further by telling him that Maria was right.

Maria DeLuca, Liz's friend was a train wreck looking for a place to happen in Michael Guerin's opinion. A completely and totally hot train wreck, but a train wreck nevertheless. A word from her could land them all in some lab acting like trained rats, or worse, starring in the next alien autopsy movie. This was all Max's fault. If he hadn't felt the need to act like such a damn boy scout, their secret would still be safe. But no, Max had to play the hero and put them all in danger.

"Hey, Mickey, what the hell you doin out there?" Hank Whitmore yelled, as he staggered out of his decrepit station wagon.

"Nothing," Michael replied, his voice taking on the sullen tone it always did when he was forced to converse with his foster father.

"Yeah, well, get your ass inside and get me a beer," slurred Hank.

"Get it yourself, I'm busy," said Michael.

"You worthless whelp!" shouted Hank, lunging towards Michael. He swung a fist in Michael's direction, but missed in his inebriated state.

Michael jumped up from the picnic table, clutching the notebook in his hand.

"I said, get your ass inside and get me a beer!" shouted Hank.

"Shut up out there," came a shout from another trailer.

Hank turned, momentarily distracted by the shout, and Michael took the opportunity to dodge the older man and take off running down the road. He slowed to a jog when he was certain that Hank wasn't following him. He stopped and considered the options available to him for the night. He weighed the possibilities of returning home or sleeping on Max's bedroom floor again. He quickly disregarded the first possibility and made his way to the Evans household.

Michael rapped softly on Max's window and waited while Max undid the latch and opened the window to admit him. True he could have opened the window on his own, but he liked to think he did have some manners and common sense. He passed the notebook to Max and climbed in.

Max tossed the notebook onto his bed and began to unroll the sleeping bag that Michael used whenever he spent the night. Michael reached into the closet and grabbed the extra pillow Max kept there and turned around to find Max sitting on the bed, leafing casually through his notebook.

Wordlessly, Max held up the notebook and showed Michael the picture he had been looking at. A picture Michael didn't remember drawing. The sketch showed Max, kneeling down on the floor, in a pool of blood, with his hand pressing down on a woman's abdomen. Michael stared in both horror and fascination when he realized that the picture did not depict Max healing Maria, instead, he was healing Liz Parker.


	8. Chapter 8 Dreams and Visions

**Disclaimer:** Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. If I was lucky enough to own them, you just know the show would still be on the air, and you be watching that instead of reading this.

**Rating:** PG-13 to R for inappropriate language and some violence.

_Winds of Change_

**Chapter Eight** – _Dreams and Visions_

"Did you draw this, Michael?" Max asked.

"I think that answer's pretty obvious, don't you, since it was in the notebook I was carrying when I got here," said Michael.

"Maybe the question should be _why_ did you draw this?" Max asked, holding up the notebook.

"Give me that," said Michael, pulling the notebook out of Max's hand and closing it. "It's not important."

"I think it is," said Max, grabbing the notebook back. He flipped through the pages trying to locate the sketch when he found something else that caught his attention.

"Michael, what's this?" he asked, passing the book back to Michael.

Michael took the notebook and examined the drawing. It showed the back of a man, standing in the rain looking at a house. From the house, a woman peered out at the man from behind a window. The woman was Maria DeLuca.

Michael stared, entranced by the poignancy in the woman's face. He reached out with one finger and touched the face of the woman gently, his expression betraying a fierce longing.

"Michael?"

"It-it's nothing," said Michael.

"No, it's something," said Max. "Did this happen? It must have for you to be able to put so much emotion into it."

"Of course it didn't. I keep telling you, that DeLuca chic is a train wreck looking for a place to happen," Michael insisted, only this time, his voice lacked conviction.

"I saw Liz Parker tonight," Max told Michael.

"What? I thought you were going to stay away from her!" Michael yelled.

"I can't," admitted Max. "I'm, well, I feel like I'm drawn to her," said Max. "I just can't seem to keep away."

"This is not good, Maxwell, not good at all," said Michael. "And I don't mean that in a we need to keep to ourselves way. Something is totally whacked."

"What do you mean?" asked Max.

Michael reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of notebook paper and handed it to Max. 

"Do I want to read your love notes," joked Max.

"Read it, will ya," said Michael.

Max skimmed the piece of paper that had to headings with lists underneath them.

Reasons it was just a dream:

1. Voices sounding far away.  
2. Time speeding up and slowing down.  
3. Plates of food getting heavy.

Reasons it really happened.

1. Feeling the bullet slam into her.  
2. The connection I felt when Max healed me.  
3. The feeling that it was so real.

"Did Maria write this?" asked Max, his voice laced with concern. Something about the handwriting was bothering him. He knew he'd seen it before.

"No, it wasn't Maria, it was Liz," said Michael.

"Liz?" said Max, trying to catch his breath. He felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. "It was you," he added almost to himself.

"What? Max, what did you say?" asked Michael.

"It was you," said Max, to himself. "It was you."

Nicholas roamed the deserted streets of Roswell, struggling to maintain his hold on this reality. He could feel his power slipping away, and his grasp on the time shift was tenuous. He needed to kill Liz; that would seal their fate, and lock this timeline into place. A low rumble filled the air. Nicholas looked up into the night sky to see that a low bank of clouds had obliterated the stars, and lightning flashed from the sky.

"I hate this stupid little town," he growled in his man-boy voice. He broke into a jog as the rain started to fall from the sky, seeking shelter from the storm.

Maria DeLuca tossed and turned fitfully in her bed. The rumblings of thunder punctured her dreams, causing her to moan slightly. A loud bang shook the house, and she sat up in her bed.

"What was that?" she asked the empty room. Another rumble of thunder filled the room, answering her question for her. She rubbed her eyes, trying to shake the dreams of a stranger that plagued her sleep.

She slid her legs over the side of the bed and walked softly to the window. Feeling foolish, she pushed the curtains aside, fully expecting to see someone standing on the sidewalk, but there was nobody there. She stared out into the darkness for several long minutes waiting, but the phantom figure in her dreams never materialized.

Maria sighed, and turned away from the window and climbed back into her bed, but she didn't sleep, not for a long time.

The sun rose on a new morning, scrubbed crisp and clean from the rainfall of the night before. Liz smiled to herself as she walked down the empty sidewalks of Roswell. She was determined to put the foolish dreams of the past few nights behind her. Today was a new day. She wasn't going to let her imagination distract her any longer, and keep her from her dream of becoming a molecular biologist.

Liz paused at the corner as she waited for the light to change, signaling her opportunity to cross. When the light was green, she stepped out into the crosswalk and began to cross the street. The sound of squealing tires caught her attention, and she stopped, foolishly trying to locate the sound.

"Liz, look out!" Maria screamed from the other side of the street. Liz looked up to see a black pick up truck bearing down on her. She remained rooted in place, frozen by fear. In that split second, she stared into the windshield of the truck, looking at the driver. She knew him. She'd seen him before, she was certain. 

A jolt brought her back to the present, and Liz found herself rolling on the ground, her face scraping against the pavement. She lifted her head in time to see the truck turn the corner and speed off out of sight.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks to," she stopped when she turned to look into the amber eyes of her rescuer. "Max," she said softly.

"You're hurt," Max said, his voice filled with concern.

He put his hand on her stinging cheek, and Liz felt a warm glow on her face. When he removed his hand, the pain was gone.

"Here comes Maria," he said, softly. "You'll be okay, now."


	9. Chapter 9 Confrontations

**Disclaimer:** Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. If I was lucky enough to own them, you just know the show would still be on the air, and you be watching that instead of reading this.

**Rating:** PG-13 to R for inappropriate language and some violence.

**Chapter Nine** – _Confrontations_

"Hey, hey you, Max Evans!" Maria shouted over the voices in the hallway of West Roswell High. "Wait up. I want to talk to you."

Max looked over his shoulder, a feeling of dread welling up inside of him. This was one confrontation he didn't want to have and had gone out of his way to avoid. He stopped, knowing he had no other alternative, and waited for Maria to catch up to him.

"Hi, Maria, what's up?" Max said, trying to force himself to act casual.

"Don't you give me that what's up crap," said Maria. She reached out and grabbed Max's arm and dragged him into an empty classroom. "We're going to talk, and we're going to do it now."

"Okay," said Max, trying to humor the petite blond spitfire. "Talk. I'm listening."

"Nice try, girlfriend," said Maria, poking him in the chest. "But you're the one doing the talking, _I'm_ the one listening."

"What did you just call me?" asked Max.

"Don't you dare try and change the subject, Max. You have some serious explaining to do," ranted Maria.

"Look, can you just sniff some cedar oil or something and calm down," suggested Max."

"In the first place, lavender is for relaxing, and in the second place, how do you even know I'm into aromatherapy?" asked Maria. "I suppose that freak friend of yours told you or something."

"I don't know how I knew," admitted Max. "Why did you call me girlfriend? Last time I checked, the anatomy wasn't quite right for that particular job description."

"I-I don't know," said Maria. "It just seemed right," she looked at Max, her confusion evident in her eyes.

"This isn't just some ploy to distract me, is it?" she asked.

"Come on, let's get out of here," said Max, grabbing her arm.

"Watch it!" snapped Maria. "I'm delicate, I bruise easily."

"Right," laughed Max. "Not to be insulting, Maria, but you're about as delicate as a pit bull. Now come on." He tugged gently on her arm and pulled her out into the hallway.

"Hey Maria, what's up?" a voice called from the hallway.

"Alex," Maria. "Uh, hi, how's it going?"

"I think the question is, where are you going?" asked Alex.

"We have an errand to run," said Max, brusquely.

"Max, wait," Maria said. She jerked her arm free of Max's grip and rushed back to Alex and hugged him tightly. "I love you," she said.

"Thanks," said a clearly puzzled Alex. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine," said Max. "She'll see you later." He propelled Maria ahead of him and out the school doors into the warm New Mexico sunlight.

"Where are we going?" Maria demanded as Max led her to his jeep.

"Some place where we can talk without being overheard," said Max. "Get in the car please, Maria."

"You know, there are some who would say that what your doing is kidnapping, no abducting me, but that seems more like your spiky haired friend's style."

"I'm not abducting you, Maria, relax," said Max. "It's just that there are some really weird things going on, and we need to talk about them. I guess I was kind of acting like Michael, wasn't I?"

"Yeah, please, curb your inner cave man tendencies when you're with me," said Maria. "You're the romantic one, remember? Why did I just say that?"

"I don't know, why _did_ you just say that?" asked Max, his had paused over the ignition. "Do I strike you as the romantic type?"

"Well, let's just put it this way," said Maria. "Wait, never mind. Why am I having this conversation with you? I'm getting out of here."

She turned to open the car door to find Michael Guerin standing on the other side of it.

"Great, my day is now complete," said Maria with a moan. She turned to Max. "Why is the poster child for emotional constipation standing outside the door?" She looked to one side of Michael and saw Liz standing next to Michael. "With my best friend?" she added.

Max swiveled in his seat and peered past Maria to look out the canvas and plastic door of the Jeep. He opened the door and climbed out and stared at Michael over the top of the jeep.

"What are you doing here, Michael?" he asked.

"Following you, what does it look like, Maxwell?" Michael responded.

"Max," Liz said in her soft voice. "Alex told me he saw you and Maria leave school. I got worried, so I came after her, Michael came with me."

"You were with Liz?" Max asked, his voice tinged with jealousy.

"Jesus, chill, will you, Max," said Maria, who had, by now, climbed out of the jeep. "If Liz wants to talk to your stone faced friend, though I for the life of me couldn't see why, what's the big deal?"

"You're right," said Max, giving himself a mental shake. "Look, we all obviously need to talk, let's get out of here."

"Wait, my car," Maria said. "I can't leave it here."

"_You_ have a car?" asked Michael in disbelief. "What is it, Mommy's Ford Escort?"

"It's a Jetta, actually," said Maria, trying to sound dignified. She pushed the door open, hitting Michael with a bit more force than necessary, enjoying the feeling of the door coming in contact with his shin.

"Get out of my way, stone face," she said.

"What is your problem?" Michael shouted. "Where do you get off telling me what to do?"

"Well, obviously, _someone_ needs to, but cause you can't even dress yourself. Look at that shirt. I wouldn't wax my car with that shirt," Maria shot back.

"If that red piece of garbage over there is you're car, then I'd say you're right," said Michael. "If you tried waxing it, the pressure of the rubbing would probably make it fall into a million pieces."

"You know, that's just like you," said Maria walking off towards her Jetta. "You just have to belittle everything."

"What are you talking about?" asked Michael, following her through the parking lot.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Michael Guerin," said Maria, her voice growing softer as she moved across the parking lot.

Max turned to Liz, his expression hopeful, but guarded.

"So, you want to ride with me?" he asked.

"Um," said Liz, catching her lower lip between her teeth. "Sure, I guess. Where are we going, anyhow?"

"I thought we should go someplace private," said Max.

Images began to fill Liz's head as Max spoke. She saw herself in the eraser room with Max, sitting in Max's jeep in a run down trailer park, her and Max jumping of a bridge in the dark of night into a swirling river.

"Liz, Liz, are you all right?" Max shouted.

"What?" asked Liz, dazed by the images that filled her mind.

"I was talking and talking, but it's like you weren't even here," said Max.

"I don't think I was," said Liz.


	10. Chapter 10 Summit Meeting

**Disclaimer:** Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. If I was lucky enough to own them, you just know the show would still be on the air, and you be watching that instead of reading this.

**Rating:** PG-13 to R for inappropriate language and some violence.

**Chapter 10** – _Summit Meeting_

"Where are we, anyhow?" Liz asked, after Max parked the jeep.

"An old abandon quarry," said Max. "Haven't you ever come out here swimming?" He climbed out of the jeep and came around to the passenger side and opened the canvas door for Liz.

As the walked over to where Michael and Maria waited, Liz laughed, and the delicate sound tickled something in Max's mind. The fragments of a memory teased at the edges of his mind. He struggled to grasp it, but it flitted out of reach.

"Max, swimming here is against the law. I couldn't do that. My parents would kill me if I ever found out."

"That's right, we couldn't have little Miss Perfect doing anything illegal," said Michael joining the conversation.

His words triggered a reaction in Liz, and she saw herself standing with Max beside a car, holding a gun. The images in her mind shifted, and she saw herself in a store, pointing the gun at a cashier.

"Liz. Liz! Are you okay?" Maria yelled. She reached out and grabbed Liz by the shoulder and shook her hard. "What did you do to her?" she demanded, staring at Michael.

"I didn't do anything," said Michael. "I didn't touch her. Hey, come on, snap out of it," he said to Liz.

"I'm- I'm okay," Liz said, shaking her head a little to clear the images from her mind. "Maria, I'm okay," she said again, this time looking at Maria's hand, still on her arm.

"What happened to you?" demanded Maria, fumbling for a vial of lavender oil to sooth her nerves.

"Never mind, let's just forget it," said Liz. 

"We can't just forget it, Liz. It could be something important," said Max. "Please tell us what happened.

"It was something Michael said," began Liz.

"See, I told you it was you're fault," said Maria, striking Michael gently in the midsection.

"Me, I didn't do anything," he said, vehemently.

"He didn't do anything, Maria," Liz said. "It was something he said. I had this incredible feeling of well, not déjà vu, but something similar to it."

"Well that really cleared it up," Michael said in his typical snarl. "Come on Maxwell, let's get this summit on the road. I've got things to do tonight."

"What did you just say?" asked Max, his face as white as Liz's had been a few minutes earlier.

"I said let's get this summit on the road," said Michael.

"I've been to a summit," said Max, quietly. "In New York."

"Max, what are you talking about?" demanded Michael. "You've never been to New York in your life."

"I know," said Max. "But I was there. I was. And so was Brody."

"Who the hell is Brody?" Michael shouted.

"I don't know," Max admitted.

"You've never been to New York, but you've been there, _and_ you've been there with Brody, but you don't know who he is. Maxwell, something is whacked here, and I'm beginning to think it's you," said Michael.

"No, the same thing happened to me the other night," said Maria. "It was raining out, and I went to my window, and looked out. I was certain somebody would be outside."

"Outside, in the rain," said Michael, trying to sound gruff, but failing.

"Yeah, it was like I was expecting someone to be standing on the street, looking at my window. Not in a stalker sort of way," she was quick to add. "But like he needed my help or something, but was afraid to ask."

"Michael, you have to show her," said Max.

"Bullshit," said Michael. "I don't have to show her anything, and I'm not."

"Yeah you do," said Max. "It's the right thing to do."

"Wait, you know something," said Liz. "I have some questions I want answered before you show us anything." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of notebook paper, opened it and glanced down at it. "How were you able to do what you did to Maria?" she asked.

Max and Michael looked at each other, but didn't respond.

"Max, look, that bullet hit Maria. I did some research, and Max, I'm sorry, it had to do some serious damage to her."

"Liz, I," Max began.

"I want some answers Max, and if I don't get them, I'm going to go to Sheriff Valenti and tell him everything."

"Tell him what?" asked Michael. "You don't know anything."

"I know Maria got shot, and by all intents and purposes, she should have died. Are you trying to tell me you just miraculously healed her?"

"Would you accept that as an answer?" Max asked, his voice hopeful.

"Not even close," said Maria.

"You have to promise me you won't ever tell anybody," said Max.

"Maxwell, don't!" said Michael, his voice angry. "We don't tell anyone. Ever!"

"They have a right to know," said Max. "They're a part of this now. Look," he said, turning to the two girls who waited expectantly. "Michael, Isabel and me, we're not from around here."

"Right, so you're from out of town, so what?" asked Maria. "Not everybody who lives here is born here. So where are you from?"

Max didn't answer, he only raised one hand and pointed a finger upward.

"North, you're from up north," said Liz.

Again, Max said nothing, he simply raised his hand higher.

"You're not like an alien, are you?" Liz asked, her voice rising a bit in disbelief.

"Well, I prefer the term not of this Earth," said Max with a sheepish smile.

"Max, you idiot!" said Michael. "You've ruined everything."

"What, like you're going to perform alien experiments on us now?" asked Maria. "I'm so afraid. Wait, what am I saying, I _am_ afraid. Liz, these guys are freaks. I'm getting out of here, now."

"You don't even have one freaking clue in that tiny little brain of yours, do you?" asked Michael. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out two pieces of paper. He unfolded them and handed one to Maria, and one to Liz."

"Nice," said Maria, barely giving the picture a glance. "I'm glad to see you stayed in the lines. Maybe next week you can move up to finger paints."

"Maria, I think you'd better look at these," said Liz, shoving the picture Michael had given her into Maria's hands.

"Oh my God," she said slowly, pausing between each word. "That's it, that's my dream, well, not a dream," she amended. "But it's what I thought I should see the other night. How did you do that?"

"I don't know," Michael admitted with atypical candor. "I just drew it, the same with that one."

Maria looked down at the other picture, the one that depicted Max, saving Liz, and not her, and alarm bells began to ring in her head.

"What the hell is going on here?" she said.


	11. Chapter 11 Proof of the Thesis

**Chapter Eleven** – _Proof of the Thesis _

Liz sat on her patio, wrapped up in a blanket, rereading the journal entry she had just written. A cool breeze blew, causing her to pull the blanket more tightly around her.

_Max Evans told me something today, _she read. _I'm not sure if I believe it, but how can I not? As a scientist, I shouldn't reject any theory out of hand, but everything inside of me screams that this can't be true. Max Evans cannot be an alien. He was not brought to Earth in the '47 crash, and he did not emerge from some sort of incubation pod ten years ago. It didn't happen, it couldn't happen. This is real life, not some bad science fiction television program.___

_And it isn't just him, it's his sister Isabel Evans, the Ice Queen of West Roswell High, as well as Maria's new nemesis, Michael Guerin. _

Liz paused from her reading to remember some of the interactions and byplay that occurred between her best friend and Max's best friend. If she didn't know any better, she'd swear there was some deep hidden passion lurking underneath their animosity. She lifted her glance to the starry sky above and wondered at the rest of Max's pronouncement. Was it possible that one of those far away distant planets was actually home to Max Evans? With a sigh, she returned her gaze to her journal and continued reading.

_Maria did not handle Max's announcement very well, in fact she insisted we leave the quarry immediately._

"Liz? Liz, are you up there?" a voice called. Liz, blanket and all; walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down to see Max Evans standing on the street below.

"H-hi," she called, trying to quell the nervous, but exciting feeling that enveloped her each time she came in contact with Max. "What are you doing here?"

"We didn't really get to talk today," said Max, climbing the fire escape to her rooftop patio. "I know you said you had some questions."

"Some?" said Liz. "More like thousands, especially after our conversation today."

"Yeah, look about that," said Max.

"Don't tell anybody," said Liz. "Don't worry, I mean, who'd believe me anyhow?"

"What about Maria, can she be trusted to keep quiet?" Max asked.

"Quiet, no," said Liz. "But can you trust her with you secret, of course."

"Can you come for a ride?" Max asked.

"Now?" asked Liz. "I don't know, it's kind of late."

"Please, Max asked. "It's really important."

Liz looked into Max's brown eyes and felt her resolve wavering. She remembered Michael's taunting comments about her never doing anything wrong, and she decided to throw caution to the wind.

"Give me a minute," she said. "I'll meet you downstairs."

"Hey," Max said softly, when Liz opened the back door of the CrashDown. "Thanks for coming down."

"Yeah, well," Liz said, feeling suddenly shy. How did one talk to an alien anyhow, or at the very least, someone who _thought_ he was an alien.

"Yeah, well," Max repeated, unsure of what to do next.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Liz asked while at the same time Max asked,

"Do you want to go for a drive?"

The two laughed self-consciously and Max smiled down at Liz, the dark night masking the two spots of color that burned on his cheeks. There was something about this girl that drove all intelligent thought right out of his mind.

"A walk it is, then," he said. He reached down in an unconscious gesture and took Liz's hand in his and they began to walk down the deserted city streets.

"So, where are we going?" Max asked.

"I don't know, the park, maybe?" Liz offered, pointing to the darkened entrance.

"Sounds good," said Max. "That is if you trust me enough to go into a deserted park late at night."

"Max, you saved my life," said Liz. "How can I not trust you?"

"What?" asked Max. "Liz, what did you just say?"

"I said you saved my life, but that's not right, you saved Maria's life," said Liz. She sat down on the edge of the fountain and trailed her fingers through the chilly water. "Max, I keep having all these weird, God, I don't even now what to call them. It's just weird."

"I know," said Max. He put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed gently. "We'll figure this out, I promise."

Liz sighed gently and relaxed against the strong lean body of Max Evans. She felt safe in his arms, which was odd as she'd never been in his arms before. Nevertheless, being with him evinced a feeling of safety and security like she'd never felt before, didn't think she'd ever feel again.

"Max? How did you heal Maria?" Liz asked, hating to end the quite moment she shared with Max, but knowing it had to be done.

"We, Michael, Isabel and I can manipulate molecular structure. I'm not really sure how it works, but I could just visualize the bullet dissolving inside of her, and the damaged areas of her body healing."

"That's like incredible," said Liz. "What else can you do?"

Max removed his arm from Liz's shoulder and stood up. She watched as he walked away from the fountain, missing the weight of his arm more than she cared to admit. He touched a street lamp and the light began to revolve, almost like a glittery disco ball. A kaleidoscope of dazzling light danced around the park.

Liz brought her hand up to her mouth and laughed gleefully at the shimmering display of lights.

"Max, stop it, what if someone sees you?" she whispered.

As quickly as it began, the dazzling light display ended and Liz sat on the edge of the fountain looking bereft.

"What's the matter?" Max asked.

"I don't know," Liz admitted. "Seeing that made me realize how alone you must have felt, keeping this secret to yourself."

She stood up and walked the short distance to the lamppost where Max still stood.

"But you're not alone anymore."

Max took her in his arms and held her tightly, looking down into her soulful brown eyes. He lowered his head to kiss her when the blaring of a nearby car alarm jarred them apart.

"We, uh, we should probably be getting back," he said regretfully. 

"Yeah," said Liz, her voice ripe with disappointment and longing.

"Thanks for talking with me," Max said as he and Liz began to walk down the path. "You're right, I always have felt so alone. Talking to you really helped."

Behind a tree, Nicholas watched, his face contorting in an evil grimace. It wasn't working, they were still coming together. He had to keep them apart, he had to make this time line a reality before he died. He felt himself grow weaker and weaker with each passing hour. If he died before he killed Liz, all hope would be lost.


	12. Chapter 12 Jigsaw

**Chapter 12** – _Jigsaw_

Liz grabbed the large bin of dirty dishes and carried them to the kitchen. She stifled a small scream when she realized that Michael Guerin was standing there, tying on an apron.

"M-Michael," she stammered. "What are you doing here?"

"Working," Michael replied, in his usual taciturn manner.

"Since when?" Liz asked.

"Since now," said Michael.

"Oh," said Liz, faintly. She dropped the dishpan full of dirty dishes in the sink and went back into the café. She seated some new customers and brought them some water. While she performed the routine tasks, her mind went over the events of the past few days, including Michael Guerin getting a job at the CrashDown.

_There's something strange going on,_ she thought. _We all feel it. Why can't we figure it out?_

Liz was so distracted by her thoughts that she failed to notice Maria come in for her shift. The petite blond was at her locker fixing her hair when she noticed Michael Guerin standing at the grill.

"_What_ are you doing here?" she asked. "Liz, what is he doing here?"

"Michael works here now, Maria," said Liz, walking into the back room.

"Since when?" demanded Maria.

"Since now. You got a problem with that?" asked Michael.

"Yeah, I do, but since nobody asked my opinion, I guess it doesn't matter," said Maria.

"That's right, it doesn't," said Michael. He turned back to the grill, but not before Liz caught a glimpse of pain in his eyes.

"Maria," she whispered. "I think you hurt his feelings."

"Him, he doesn't have feeling," Maria said.

"If you say so," said Liz, her voice filled with doubt. "I have to get back out there," she added, motioning towards the café.

Maria watched as Liz pushed through the swinging doors that led back to the café. She turned and walked over to the grill, and stood next to Michael, waiting for him to acknowledge her.

"Uh, hello, standing right here, you know," she said after waiting several minutes.

"Yeah," answered Michael, looking over at her, briefly. "I'm hoping if I ignore you long enough, you'll go away."

"Nice," said Maria, glaring at Michael. "Have you ever wondered why you don't have any friends, Michael?"

"Look, was there something you wanted because you're really starting to get on my nerves," said Michael.

"_I'm_ getting on _your_ nerves?" Maria shouted. "Oh that's rich. Here I am, trying to make you feel better, and this is the way you act. Nice, really nice."

"This is how you try and make someone feel better?" asked Michael. "Man, I'd hate to see you try and piss someone off."

"Listen, Michael, I don't have to stand here and take this crap from you. I don't know what your problem is, I only wanted to say,"

"I don't care what you wanted to say," Michael interrupted. "I don't need you; I don't need anyone, so just leave me alone."

"You know, I just don't get you," Maria said, pushing Michael's arm. "I'd think that someone who was just starting a new job would want to make an effort to, oh, I don't know, get along with the people who have worked her forever."

"I'm not here to get along with you people," said Michael. "I'm here to earn enough money to pay my rent, get it? So why don't you just leave me alone, and let me do my job?"

"Rent?" Maria snorted. "On what? Wait, let me guess, you're trying to save up to rent a personality, right?"

"Aren't you just the funny one," said Michael, turning back to the grill. "It's for an apartment. I was declared an emancipated minor, and I have to support myself now."

"Oh," said a now deflated Maria. She didn't know what it was about Michael Guerin, but she vacillated between wanting to hug him and wanting to kill him. Right now, she wanted to hug him. Imagine being responsible for yourself completely and totally. Sure there were times when her mom drove her absolutely crazy, but she couldn't in a million years imagine not having her around to depend on.

"Oh, wow, that, wow, that sucks," she said, finally, at a loss for words.

"Yeah, well, it's better than where I was," Michael said, uncomfortable with the compassion showing on Maria's face. "So, look, if we're done here, I really need to get back to work."

"No, no, I don't believe you just said that," said Maria, shaking her head. "I mean, I'm standing here, right in front of you, feeling bad for you, and you, I don't know, you dissed me, that's what you did, you dissed me."

Michael turned away and started go move closer to the grill, a move that only served to further incense Maria.

"Don't you dare walk away when I'm talking to you, Michael Guerin," Maria said, stepping back in front of him.

"Right, and you're gonna stop me, how?" Michael asked.

"Argh, you are so infuriating," said Maria. She pushed ineffectually at his chest, and Michael reached down to grab her arms, stopping her from hitting him.

He stared down into her eyes, losing himself for a moment in their dazzling blue depths. He lowered his head to hers and kissed her, violently at first, but then with a growing passion neither one could understand.

Around them, the CrashDown began to shake uncontrollably, and Michael pulled her closer to him in an attempt to protect her from danger.

"What was that?" Maria asked, when the kiss ended. She looked around the kitchen but could see no evidence of the earthquake she had just felt.

"I don't know," said a shaken Michael. He looked around the kitchen, trying to reconcile what he thought had just happened with what he saw. He muttered something, then spun around, trying to focus in on the flash of movement he caught out of the corner of his eye.

"What?" asked Maria. "What did you just say, and did you feel that?"

"Another piece to add to the puzzle," Michael said cryptically.


	13. Chapter 13 Distortion

**Disclaimer:** Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. If I was lucky enough to own them, you just know the show would still be on the air, and you be watching that instead of reading this.

**Rating:** PG-13 to R for inappropriate language and some violence.

_Winds of Change_

**Chapter Thirteen** – _Distortion_

Nicholas leaned against the wall, behind the dumpster, winded from his exertions. This was not something he had counted on. He knew he needed to keep that imbecile Zan away from that slut, but he hadn't counted on Rath forming any attachments on this god-forsaken planet. 

"Rath, of all people," he said between breaths. "He couldn't bond with a goldfish back on Antar, and he falls in love here? I wasn't counting on that."

His breathing had slowed enough to allow him to push himself off the wall, and start walking down the street.

"How am I going to do this?" he asked himself. "Do I need to keep all of them apart, or are just Zan and Liz the key?"

"Did you just see that?" Michael asked Maria.

"See what?" asked Maria, still dazed by Michael's kiss.

"There was somebody in here just now," Michael responded, still looking around. He shook his head slightly

"Hey Michael, how's that burger, oh, sorry," said Liz, poking her head through the pick up window. "I, uh, didn't mean to disturb you."

"Liz, no wait," Maria called. "This isn't what it looks like. Will you let go of me," she hissed under her breath at Michael who still had his hand on her shoulder.

"Uh, yeah, right," said Liz. "No problem. I was just checking on my burger.

"Did you feel that earthquake?" Maria asked, smoothing down her hair, and trying to catch her breath. She'd been kissed before, but never with such intensity. She didn't think Michael Guerin was capable of showing any type of emotion, least of all, passion.

"What earthquake?" asked Liz, picking up the plate Michael passed through the window. "There wasn't any earthquake."

"You cannot tell me you didn't just feel that?" Maria asked. She glared at Michael one last time and exited the kitchen to go stand beside Liz. "It felt like the entire building was shaking."

"Maybe it was just Michael making the Earth move for you," joked Liz.

"Do not even go there, Liz," Maria said, darkly. "That was an aberration, that's all.

"I don't think so," said Liz, looking towards the kitchen.

Maria turned and followed Liz's glance and saw Michael standing there watching her intently, only instead of the usual hate she saw in his face, this time, she saw confusion and passion.

"No, no, no," said Maria, shaking her head vehemently. "I so do not think so. Mr. Stone Face over there does _not_ have the hots for me. Is that clear?"

Maria stalked away to seat some new customers, while Liz filled a drink order and laughed silently to herself. The concept of Maria together with Michael was not as weird as she would have thought; in fact she found the idea to be oddly reassuring.

Liz hefted the tray of drinks and crossed the floor to deliver them to the waiting customers. As she walked, she got an eerie feeling that someone was watching her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she slowly turned around, trying to locate the cause of her unease. Unable to do so, she quickly dispensed the beverages and returned to the kitchen. For some reason, the urge to confide her suspicions to Michael was very strong.

"What?" Michael asked, staring at her.

"I, uh, I, oh never mind," Liz said. She started to turn away, but Michael reached out a restraining hand and stopped her.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing, really," Liz said. "I just feel like someone's watching me. It's weird, I know but I just can't shake it. Never mind," she said abruptly. "Forget I said anything. I don't know what I'm talking about."

She jerked away from Michael and went back out to the café. She worked steadily for the next several hours, forcing down her feelings of unease all the while. When the dinner rush ended, she grabbed a soda and retreated to the employee lounge to try and make some sense of the insanity that had become her world.

_Things seem to be spiraling out of control._ She wrote in her journal. _I don't know what's real anymore. Max Evans fills both my waking thoughts and my dreams, but I don't know why. And then there is continual feeling of unease. I'm starting to wonder if I'm suffering from some type of paranoid delusion. Nobody is watching me. Why would they? I'm Liz Parker; plain ordinary Liz Parker. And yet, there is something. I'm not sure what. Some fleeting, tantalizing memory, dancing on the fringes of my mind, I can almost reach out and grab it, but when I try, and dances out of reach yet again, taunting me. It's driving me crazy. ___

_I am not a paranoid person. I don't feel like the world is out to get me, or everyone is against me, but I can't shake the feeling that someone IS watching me. I can't talk to Maria about it, she has her own issues to cope with. Michael Guerin is working at the café now, and she is less than pleased about it. ___

_Maybe the best thing I can do is put the whole thing out of my mind and just stay away from Max Evans. I can't help but feel that all of this comes back to him somehow. I don't know how, but I'm almost certain of it._

Liz looked at the clock, sighed and slipped her pen into her journal. She stuffed the journal back into her backpack and slid it into her locker. She walked out into the kitchen and grabbed a rack of clean glasses from the dishwasher as her mind continued to race. Usually when she wrote in her journal, she felt freed from the problems that plagued her, but not today. Confused thoughts still whirled around in her mind like some out of control carnival ride.

The rack in her hands began to rattle dangerously as images from a carnival filled her mind. She could hear the sound of calliope music floating on the air, mingling with the cheerful screams of children on the various rides.

"Hey, Liz, are you all right?" a voice behind her said.

Liz turned and looked at the speaker and the rack of glasses fell from her hands. The glasses shattered, sprinkling shards of broken glass all around her.

"Alex," she whispered, bringing her hand to her mouth. "You're dead."


	14. Chapter 14 Flash Forward

**Disclaimer:** Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. If I was lucky enough to own them, you just know the show would still be on the air, and you be watching that instead of reading this.

**Rating:** PG-13 to R for inappropriate language and some violence.

_Winds of Change_

**Chapter Fourteen** – _Flash Forward _

That's nice, Liz, thank you very much. And how am I supposed to respond to that anyhow? You're ugly?" said a clearly confused Alex.

"I, uh, Alex, I'm sorry," said a flustered Liz. She knelt down on the ground and began to pick up the pieces of broken glass that covered the floor. "I don't know why I said that."

"Look, Liz, there's something really strange going on," said Alex. He placed his books on the counter next to him and knelt down and began to help Liz pick up the broken glass. "You and Maria have been acting really weird lately. You've been avoiding me like crazy, and when I do catch up with you, you start talking about Czechoslovakians. Liz, Czechoslovakia hasn't been a country for like fifty years. And now, you're telling me that I'm dead. I demand to know what's going on Liz. I want some answers."

"Alex, Alex, Alex," said Maria, joining the conversation. "You want answers, I'll give you answers.

She knelt down next to Alex and placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned into him and whispered conspiratorially. "You want to know what we're talking about, fine, I'll tell you."

"Maria!" Liz whispered, her face a mask of fear. 

"When we're talking about Czechoslovakians, we're talking about cramps," Maria continued. "And we didn't want to gross you out, but if you want to know about all our female problems, we'll gladly share them with you."

"Thank you no," said Alex, standing up. "That is way more information than I need to know. I'll just be going. Liz, I brought over the CD my band just made, but I'll just leave it here for you." He dropped the CD on the counter and began to back away as if he were afraid the 'cramps' were contagious.

"I'll just see you later," he added as he crossed the restaurant floor.

Liz and Maria laughed as they watched their friend beat a hasty retreat from the café.

"How did you think of that?" Liz asked, trying to contain her laughter.

"I have no idea," said Maria, "but it was perfect." They quickly made short work of picking up the rest of the broken glasses and Liz prepared to carry the tray back to the kitchen.

"What happened, anyhow?" Maria asked, nodding in the direction of the tray.

"I don't know," said Liz. "I saw Alex, and I had this overwhelming feeling of dread, like something terrible had happened, and that he shouldn't be here. It's stupid, I know, but it felt so real."

"Yeah," said Maria, almost to herself. "I think I know what you mean." She thought back to the other day when she saw Alex in school, she was consumed with an overwhelming need to hold him, and never let him go. It was like she was never going to see him again.

"Maria, what's happening to me?" asked Liz. "I think I'm losing my mind."

"Well if you are, then I'm right there with you, Chica. Because for the last few days, my world has been spinning of its proverbial axis. And I'm betting it has something to do with that pointy haired freak in there," Maria said, darkly, looking towards the kitchen where Michael worked over the grill.

"Listen, Maria, I'm not feeling very well, can you cover for me?" Liz asked. "I'm just going to go upstairs and lay down for a while." 

She turned and left, not waiting for Maria's answer and climbed the steps to her family's apartment. Liz wasted little time with her mother, explaining her early departure from work with the tried and true excuse of cramps, and slipped away to her room.

In her room, Liz looked at the journal she'd left on her bed that morning, then eyed the bathroom door, weighing the merits of a shower versus trying to analyze everything that had been happening recently. The need for relaxing won out, and Liz quickly removed her hideous waitress uniform and turned the shower jet. Steam quickly filled her small bathroom, and she stepped under the hot stream and allowed the water to cascade over her body.

Liz absent-mindedly reached for a bottle of apple scented shampoo and began to wash her hair. As her fingers worked her heavy tresses into a lather, she tried to focus on the events of the past several days, but the combined heat of the shower, and the beguiling scent of her shampoo caused her thoughts to wander aimlessly.

She rinsed the shampoo from her hair, and along with the soap, she could feel her worries slipping away. She smiled slightly as she squeezed a dollop of conditioner in her hand and began to smooth it into her hair. The scent of apples grew stronger and began to permeate the room. It brought to mind the image of a fall day, and Liz saw herself riding under the warm fall sun, next to Max Evans.

Liz relaxed and enjoyed the happy images that filled her mind. There were no pressures, no worries, just herself, and Max, riding along enjoying the day. Her body began to tense as she felt the jeep leave the road, and she saw the Earth and sky spin around her.

The image shifted, and Max was still in the Jeep, unconscious, with his head resting on the steering wheel. The image shifted again, and Max was now in a hospital bed, while Liz, Michael, Maria and Isabel looked down at him. The image shifted again and this time she saw Max being strapped down to a gurney, fighting and screaming as he tried to break free from the restraints. She could feel his fear as if it were his own. They shocked his body, they cut into it while he screamed and screamed.

Liz screamed, and the noise jerked her back into reality. She hurriedly rinsed the remaining conditioner from her hair and stepped out of the shower. Dressing quickly, she slipped out of her room and downstairs. Once outside, she stood helplessly on the street, unsure of what to do. She slipped back into her family's apartment and then went down into the kitchen of the CrashDown. She walked up to Michael without hesitation and tapped him on the shoulder.

"You have to help me," she said, bluntly. "Max is in danger."


	15. Chapter 15 Visions of Yesterday

_Winds of Change_

**Chapter Fifteen** – _Visions of Yesterday_

Michael cleaned the grill while he listened to Liz. He poured more water on the grill; steam billowed upward, obscuring his features and served to mask the fears he knew showed there.

What she said to him made no sense, but in the inner recesses of his mined, what she said struck a chord of truth. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that Liz was telling the truth. The only question was, what to do about it.

"Thanks," he said, brusquely. "But just stay out of it. I'll take care of everything."

"But Michael, Max is in danger," Liz said. "We have to do something."

"_We_ don't have to do anything. You're not a part of this," Michael said. He removed his apron and grabbed his coat out of his locker. He barely spared Liz a glance as he walked towards the door. He reached out and opened the door, but before he left, he turned to Liz.

"Stay out of it," he said as the door slammed behind him.

Liz watched from the window as he climbed on his motorcycle and drove off into the night. A spirit of defiance filled Liz's soul. She wasn't about to let Michael tell her what to do. Max was in danger, and despite everything that had happened between them, she knew she had to help him. Just like she always did, a voice whispered in the back of her mind. No matter what happened to Max Evans, she was right there at his side like some sort of trustworthy little pet.

Liz shook her head, trying to rid herself of the emotional rage that filled her mind. Why was she so angry? It didn't make any sense at all. She barely knew Max Evans, why would she start thinking about all the things that happened to them. Short of his saving Maria, and a car ride to the quarry, nothing had happened between them.

Except for Tess, the same small voice whispered in the back of her mind. A feeling of intense hatred welled up in Liz, and was shocked at it. She didn't know anybody named Tess. Her reactions made no sense. Torn, Liz looked at the door to outside, and the stairs back up to her apartment. She wanted to go upstairs and open the new journal she had started. This one wasn't really scientific. In it, she was recording all the strange memories that filled her head, and the déjà vu experiences she had been having. But she also knew Max needed her.

Compromising, Liz grabbed a blank order pad and scribbled everything that had just occurred down, and ripped off the top sheet and stuffed it into her jeans pocket. She reached into Maria's locker and pulled out a jacket and slipped out into the cool desert night. She looked longingly at her parent's car, but decided against it and began to walk down the empty sidewalk.

The chirping of the crickets made a lonely accompaniment to Liz's thoughts as she reached the edge of the residential district where the Evans family lived. She paused for a moment, trying to decide if she really did have a reason to be there. Maybe she was losing her mind. The possibility scared her, and she stood, frozen in thought trying to judge her own sanity when the headlights of a passing car caught her in their glare. Instinctively, she put a hand up to shield her eyes and she took an involuntary step backwards as the car pulled over to the curb.

"Liz Parker, is that you?" a female voice called through the night. "It's Isabel Evans."

"Isabel, hi," Liz said as a feeling of relief washed over her. She wasn't particularly close to Isabel, actually, she wasn't in the same league as her, but at least she was fairly certain that Isabel wasn't about to turn into a mad rapist or anything.

"What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?" Isabel questioned, climbing out of the Jeep she shared with her brother.

"I, oh, uh, I was just out for a walk," she said.

"Well it's late, you shouldn't be out walking alone this late at night," said Isabel. "Climb in, I'll give you a ride home."

Liz looked regretfully in the direction of the Evans house before she climbed into the Jeep. She wanted to talk to Max, but couldn't see herself explaining that to Isabel.

"Thanks," she said to Isabel, not meaning it, but at the same time, grateful that someone had taken the choice out of her hands.

Isabel pulled away from the curb, and the two rode in silence for several minutes, each alone with her thoughts. Finally Isabel broke what was rapidly becoming an awkward silence.

"Max told you," she said, making it a statement and not a question.

"Yeah, but Isabel, you have to know I wouldn't ever tell anyone," Liz said in a rush. "I swear."

"I know, Liz," said Isabel, her voice uncharacteristically soft. "I don't know why I believe that you won't, but I do."

They drove on in silence for a few minutes before Isabel spoke again. "Can I ask you something?" she said to Liz. "Were you going to see my brother?"

"Why do you want to know?" Liz.

"I just want to tell you there isn't any possibility of a relationship between you and him. We agreed a long time ago not to let anybody into our lives. You're a nice person Liz, and I don't want to see you get hurt. Just give up on Max. There isn't any room in his life for you."

Even though Isabel's voice was gentle, it cut into Liz like a thousand different knives. She felt her eyes fill with tears, and she reached into her pocket and pulled out a tissue.

"Pull over," she said, her voice thick with tears. "Pull over now."

Isabel pulled the Jeep over to the side of the road, and Liz jumped out and began to run, heedless of Isabel's voice calling out after her. Isabel watched the other girl run off into the night. When she could no longer see Liz, she reached over to shut the door that Liz had left open. As she did, she spied a folded piece of paper on the seat where Liz had sat.

Isabel hesitated for only a minute before she unfolded it and began to read. The graphic images Liz had recorded on the order slip filled her with fear and horror, and she found herself recalling a military installation. The memory caused her to shiver slightly and she pulled her jacket tightly around her. Images flashed through her mind. She saw Max being tortured, and screaming out in agony, and she felt helpless. She wanted to reach out to him, but didn't know how.

Suddenly, she was overcome by an intense feeling of comfort and security, and she saw herself dancing with a tall dark haired man. She didn't see his face, but she was certain that she knew him. Just as quickly the image shifted and she saw herself laying a rose on a coffin, tears streaming down her face.

"Alex," she whispered to the empty Jeep. She felt a dampness on her face and found that the tears were not just in her memory, they were real.


	16. Chapter 16 Stargazing

**Chapter Sixteen** – _Stargazing_

Alex Whitman sat at an empty table in the warm Roswell sunshine and unpacked his lunch. He hated eating alone, but given the way Maria and Liz had been acting lately, alone was definitely the safer alternative. The less he heard about cramps masquerading as Czechoslovakians, the better for his piece of mind.

He opened his soda and scanned the crowded eating area looking for someone to talk to when he spied Isabel Evans holding her tray and scanning the crowd. His heart began to pound rapidly, and he felt his face begin to burn as Isabel began to walk in his direction. Not that this reaction was anything new to him. He fell in love with Isabel in third grade, the first time he saw her get off the school bus, and the feeling had never subsided. Not that she knew who he was. Isabel Evans didn't deign to speak to lesser mortals such as him. He was so far out of her league that it wasn't even funny.

"Hi, do you mind if I sit here," a voice said, breaking through his thoughts.

Alex looked up and saw Isabel standing next to him, ready to put her tray down on the table. Alex swallowed the mouthful of soda he had just drunk, and immediately began to choke.

"Su-sure," he sputtered, his voice cracking. "S-sit down."

"I'm Isabel Evans," Isabel said in a cheery voice.

"I-I know," said Alex, struggling to regain his composure. "Everybody knows who you are."

"I don't think so," said Isabel, smiling at Alex's comment. "You're Alex Whitman, right?"

"You know who I am?" Alex asked, his voice breaking again.

"Alex, we've been in school together since the third grade. Of course I know you," Isabel answered.

"Yeah, but you normally don't talk to me," said Alex. "Did you lose a bet or something?" He swiveled around in his seat looking to see if he could spy some of Isabel's giggling friends, or someone with a camera to record the moment. "Can I have a copy of the picture someone is surely taking as proof so I can forever remember this moment?"

Isabel threw her head back and laughed, and her long hair cascaded down her back like a golden waterfall, shinning in the sun. Alex felt his breath catch as he observed her heartbreaking beauty.

"Alex you are too funny," said Isabel. "Can't I just hang out with you?"

"In my dreams yes, in reality, no," said Alex. "Not without causing irreparable damage to your social standing. So why don't you just tell me what you want, or whatever, and that way you can get back to your little friends."

"Alex, I don't want anything from you," said Isabel, and something in her tone half convinced him that she was telling the truth.

"Isabel, come on someone like you doesn't come sit with someone like me for no reason. It just doesn't happen."

"Fine, you want to know the truth, I'll tell you the truth," said Isabel. "Last night, I had a dream about you.

"Right," said a still skeptical Alex. Him dreaming about Isabel that made sense; Isabel dreaming about him, now that was the stuff of fantasies.

"No, seriously, I did," said Isabel. I was wearing a red dress, and you were in the most handsome tux, Alex, and we were dancing. It was magical. At first, I didn't see your face, but finally it came into focus. Alex, we were so happy and it was so beautiful."

"Okay," said Alex. "We danced, again, I'm not seeing why this would make you want to come an sit with me. It was just a dream, right?"

"But then it changed," said Isabel, her voice catching slightly. "I, I was at a funeral, and I put a flower on a coffin. Oh, God, Alex, it was you're coffin. You died. It was terrible."

"What?" asked Alex, the color draining from his face. "What did you just say?"

"You died Alex. In my dream, you were dead," said Isabel, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "It was horrible."

"Yeah, horrible," muttered Alex, his thoughts racing. "Seems to be a lot of that going around lately."

"A lot of what?" asked Isabel, confused by Alex's apparent change in conversation.

"Me dying," he said. "Liz said the same thing to me the other night at the CrashDown. She took one look at me, dropped a tray of glasses and told me I was dead. I'm starting to not feel the love from everybody, let me tell you."

"Liz Parker?" asked Isabel.

"Yes, Liz Parker. Do I hang out with any other Liz's?"

"We need to talk to her, Alex. "Something isn't right, and I think it involves Liz," said Isabel. "Do you know where she is?"

"Usually, she's right where you're sitting," said Alex in a dry voice. "But her and Maria have been avoiding me lately - something about Czechoslovakians or something."

"Czechoslovakians?" asked Isabel. "Who's Czechoslovakian?"

"Apparently cramps are," said Alex, standing up. "Come on, if they're not out here, then chances are they're holed up inside one of the empty science rooms.

"They?" asked Isabel. "Do we have to talk to Maria, too?"

"Where Liz goes, so goes Maria," said Alex. "Why?"

"I- I don't know," said Isabel. "I just have this weird feeling, like she's going to try and get me to wait tables or something."

Alex laughed out loud at the visual of Isabel in a CrashDown uniform with little alien deely boppers on her head.

"Don't worry, Isabel, I don't think that's ever going to happen," he said. He waited until she stood up, and the two began walking toward the school together.

"Do you know what you want to do for college?" Isabel asked, trying to make conversation. She didn't feel uncomfortable with Alex. It was exactly the opposite. Talking with him, she felt like she was coming home, or something. She felt safe and protected, and that wasn't a feeling she was used to feeling.

"Yeah, I'm thinking MIT," said Alex. "And Liz wants to go to Harvard, so we'll still be able to hang out and stuff."

"You and Liz are pretty close, aren't you."

"She's my best friend," said Alex, simply. "Well one of them anyway."

"So, MIT?" asked Isabel. "You're not looking at anywhere local, are you, like Las Cruses or something?"

"Thank you, no," said Alex, suppressing a shudder. "I don't ever want to see Las Cruses again."

"You've been there?" Isabel asked, amazed at the alarmed feelings she had.

"No, I haven't," said a puzzled Alex. "I know I haven't, but I feel like I have."

"We need to fine Liz," said Isabel, slipping her hand in his. "We need to find her right away."


	17. Chapter 17 Dreamscape

**Chapter 17** _Dreamscape_

It was an odd group that met at Michael Guerin's apartment that evening. On one side of the room sat Max, Michael and Isabel, while on the other side of the room, Liz, Kyle, Maria and Alex perched uncomfortably on Michael's faded, threadbare couch.

"What's _he_ doing here?" grumbled Max, looking pointedly at Kyle who glared right back at him.

"He's a part of this, too," said Liz.

"I thought we agreed to keep this between us," said Michael. "You know we can't tell anybody about it."

"She didn't tell anybody," said Maria, stepping to Liz's defense. 

"She obviously told the Laughing Buddha over there," said Michael, his face growing red as his temper flared. "Or else he wouldn't be here."

"Stop it all of you!" shouted Isabel. "Something's going on here, I don't know what it is, but I think Liz is the key. So if she thinks that Kyle needs to be here, then I think he should stay. Besides," she said in a quieter voice, "I have a feeling we can trust him." 

"Look, we don't even know what's going on," said Alex, trying to be the voice of reason. "Can we please start at the beginning and bring everybody up to speed, and go from there?"

Max looked at Michael and Isabel, he knew they had to reveal their secret to two more people, but he was unwilling to do it unless he had the approval of both of them. Isabel was biting her lower lip thoughtfully while Michael glared angrily at everyone. Finally Isabel nodded slightly. Max looked to Michael who gave one angry jerk of his head before he threw himself down on the floor and reached for a piece of pizza from the box that rested on the decrepit coffee table in the middle of the floor.

Max made short work of explaining who they were, and what had happened in the past several weeks. When he was finished, he sat back expectantly and waited for the barrage of questions he was sure would come. He was shocked when both Alex and Kyle seemed to accept what he had told them.

"Why aren't you freaked by all of this?" Max asked, looking at both men, a curious expression on his face.

"Well, I can't answer for Kyle," said Alex, "But I kind of feel like your telling me something I already knew. Like it was a story my mom used to read to me as a kid, and I just heard it again."

"We've all been having feelings like that lately," said Liz, who had begun to relax a bit now that the truth was out. "Or at least I have." 

"I still don't know why he's here," grumbled Michael with another pointed glare at Kyle.

"Well, I didn't know why I was here at first," snapped Kyle, giving Michael his own angry glance. "I told Liz about this crazy dream that I had, and she just about freaked out and said she had to go find Evans and talk to him right away."

"What dream?" asked Isabel. "Max never told us about your dream, Kyle." 

"That's because I never got the chance to tell Max," Liz said. "Tell them Kyle. They need to hear this."

"Well, I dreamt I was in that cheesy UFO Museum, and I got shot. I guess it was getting robbed or something," said Kyle. "Anyhow, I was dying, and my dad was there begging Max to help me. Next thing I know, I was sitting in a lotus position contemplating my existence in this world."

"A lotus position?" laughed Maria. "What like Buddha and meditation and all that stuff?"

"I guess," said Kyle. "Anyhow, I woke up, but I was totally freaked by it. But the dream stuck with me. Usually, I don't remember my dreams, but I remembered that one. I can still feel the bullet ripping through my,"

"Through your stomach," said Max. "The bullet hit you in the stomach like the one that hit Maria."

"Or the one that hit Liz if you go by Michael's drawing," said Maria. 

"You know, maybe I am starting to get a little freaked," said Alex. "This is like an episode of the Twilight Zone or something." 

"I'm not finished," said Kyle. "I finally fell back to sleep, and I had another strange dream."

"You didn't tell me about that, Kyle," Liz said.

"Did you give me a chance," said Kyle. "After I told you about my first dream, you went on your quest for Max Evans, and you dragged me around half the school looking for him. It wasn't conducive to intimate conversation."

"Sorry," said Liz, blushing slightly. She had been a bit of a termagant this afternoon dragging Kyle all through the school.

"Anyhow, all of us were someplace pretty fancy, I mean, we were all dressed up, and we were paired off in couples," said Kyle.

"How's that work, there isn't an even number?" asked Maria.

Kyle ignored Maria and continued his story. "Liz and Max were together, and Alex and Isabel were together. You looked great by the way," he said to Isabel.

"Of course I did," said Isabel. "So go on, there doesn't seem to be anything to ominous about this dream."

"I'm getting there," said Kyle. "Maria and Mr. Personality over there were an item."

"What!" Michael and Maria shouted together.

"And I was with this cute little blond chic," said Kyle, ignoring the outburst. "She was really hot, and I do mean hot. Anyhow, my dream kind of flashed to a different time, you know and we were all at a funeral, well, almost all of us were," he said, softly.

Isabel reached down and grabbed Alex's hand and squeezed it tightly and tears began to fall silently down her face.

"How did you know?" Kyle asked in amazement, watching the sadness play across Isabel's face. "Alex was the only one who wasn't there," he added for the benefit of the others, but he could see it wasn't necessary.

"Is that it?" Max asked, his voice thick with emotion.

"No, I wish it was," said Kyle. "After that, I was standing in my room and Liz was sitting on my bed drumming on something. I was looking in my mirror, and I saw Alex and that cute blond chic I was telling you about, or their reflections, anyhow. They were fighting, and she scrunched her face up and Alex fell to the floor. I woke up screaming and didn't sleep for the rest of the night," finished Kyle. 

"Tess," said Liz, her voice bleak. "Her name is Tess."


	18. Chapter 18 Nightmare

**Chapter Eighteen** – _Nightmare_

_I feel as though there's a hollow space where my heart used to be._ Liz wrote in her journal. _All it took was the mention of a name. Four letters arranged in a random pattern to form a word that is capable of destroying my very existence, but I don't know why. That's what is frustrating to me – the not knowing. My life was always so predictable, mundane even until this thing with Max started. Now it seems as though everything is in a state of flux. What's happening to me – to us? Its almost as if we are all just puppets acting out some macabre play for an insane puppeteer. Something other than fate is bringing us all together. It has to be. Fate is random, but there seems to be some sort of pattern to all of this, if only I could figure it out._

"Liz, can you come here honey?" a voice called from inside the Parker apartment.

"Coming, Mom," Liz answered. She slipped her pen into her journal to mark her place, closed the book and left it lying on her chair. She climbed in through her bedroom window and went to see what her mother wanted.

Nicholas waited patiently until he was certain Liz was gone before he climbed up the fire escape. He looked around surreptitiously, making sure he was unobserved before he climbed over the low wall that enclosed Liz's rooftop patio.

Without a qualm, he opened her journal and began leaf through it. He scanned it rapidly, his face falling as he read the pages. His heart began to pound a staccato rhythm in his chest, and his breath came in short gasps as he realized how close they were to ruining everything. A noise alerted him to the fact that Liz was returning, and he quickly ducked behind a large planter. His hiding place provided him with a view to both the patio as well as the bedroom.

A soft breeze whispered across the patio, and the leaves from the plant brushed against his face. Angrily Nicholas shoved them away, waiting for an opportunity to escape off of the patio. He watched in fascination as Liz slowly ran a brush through her hair. His breath caught in his throat, and desire played across his face as Liz began to unbutton her blouse. It slid down off her shoulders and fluttered to the ground. Nicholas began to breath faster, his breath came in short gasps, and he felt himself grow warm with desire as Liz raised her arms above her head and stretched languidly.

Nicholas moved slightly from behind the brick planter to allow himself a better view of Liz. She was beautiful, he admitted to himself. It was a shame she had to die, Nicholas thought to himself. Maybe he'd use her for himself before he killed her. He caught his breath as she undid the snap on her jeans, and began to ease them down over her hips. Nicholas moved unconsciously towards the window as passion clouded his judgment.

He reached out to climb through the window when something tackled him from the side, sending him crashing into the brick wall. Liz heard the noise, and saw a blinding flash of light and screamed. She pulled her jeans back up over her hips and grabbed her shirt off the floor and pulled it on.

"Lizzie, is everything okay?" her father yelled from somewhere in the apartment.

"Oh, uh, yeah, fine dad," she called back. "Just a couple of cats fighting or something. It scared me."

She moved cautiously to the window and peered out into the darkness. Her breath caught in her throat when she realized that there was a body lying several feet from her window. She choked back the sobs that threatened to spill out and climbed carefully out of the window and knelt beside the body.

She reached out with shaking hands and carefully rolled the body over so that she could see who it was. Tears fell from her eyes when the face of Michael Guerin came into view, covered with horrible disfiguring burns. Liz jumped backwards and began to retch violently at the disfigured face in front of her.

When her insides felt as empty as her heart, Liz pushed herself up off the ground, and checked to see if Michael was still breathing before she staggered through the window into her room. She grabbed her cell phone and quickly punched in a number.

"Max," she said. "It's Michael, he's been hurt. He's at my house, please hurry."

Liz stuffed her cell into her pocket with shaking hands and grabbed the blankets and pillows off of her bed and climbed back through the window. Once outside, she stood with trepidation as she realized whoever had hurt Michael could still be out there. Tamping her fear down, she moved over to Michael's body, and carefully lifted his head up and slipped the pillow underneath him. Then she covered him with the blanket in the hopes of staving off the shock she was sure would set in.

"Maxwell," Michael whispered, struggling to sit up.

"Michael, it's Liz. Please don't try and get up, Max is on his way." 

"Danger," Michael moaned.

"Michael, try not to talk," said Liz, brushing his hair off of the burnt skin on his forehead. "Don't worry, Max will be here soon."

She started to say more, but was interrupted by the ringing of the cell phone in her pocket. She reached for the phone, dropping it on the blanket that covered Michael in her haste to answer it.

"Hello?" she said, softly, trying not to disturb the injured man beside her. 

"Liz, girlfriend, get ready. Alex and I will be by to pick you up in ten minutes. I don't know where we're going or what we're doing, but who cares," came Maria's voice through the phone. 

"Mu-Maria," Liz whimpered, quietly.

"Liz, what's the matter?" Maria asked, a sense of urgency in her voice. 

"It's Michael," Liz said.

"What did he do now?" demanded Maria. "If he's bothering you, I'm going to kill him."

"He's hurt, bad," Liz said. "I think someone tried to kill him." 

"Liz, where are you?" asked Maria, panic rising in her voice.

"M-my house," said Liz. "M-Max is on his way. Oh, God, Maria, I think he's dying. Maria? Maria, are you there?"

Liz waited a minute before closing the phone and slipping it back into her pocket. She sat on the ground next to Michael, and held his hand in hers. The gesture may not have done anything for Michael, but it served to sooth her frayed nerves slightly.

After what seemed like hours, but was, in reality only several minutes, Max appeared on the fire escape. He climbed over the low wall, and raced across the rooftop, with Isabel on his heels. At the same time, the door to Liz's bedroom opened and shut and voices could be heard in the room. Max and Isabel stood protectively over Michael and Liz, each of them holding an arm outstretched before them. Maria and Alex appeared in the window, and Max and Isabel lowered their hands and turned their attention back to Michael.

"What happened?" asked Max.

"I don't know," said Liz. "I was in my room, getting changed when I heard a bang, and there was a brilliant flash of light. I came out here and I found Michael. He was lying face down on the ground. I turned him over, and then I called you. After that, I came outside and covered him up."

Max pulled the blanket off of Michael, and both Isabel and Maria gasped when they saw the burns that covered his body. Whatever had done this to him was so intense that his charred clothing seemed to merge with the burnt flesh that was underneath it.

Max started at Michael's head, holding his hands as close to his friend's body as he could without touching it. A soft light emanated from Max's hand, and the charred flesh on Michael's face began to heal, slowly smoothing out and returning to a normal flesh tone. Max moved his hands slowly down Michael's body, healing each burned surface one by one, until finally he Michael was completely healed.

"Why isn't he waking up?" Maria asked.

"Don't worry," said Alex, his voice filled with awe at what he had just witnessed. "He'll be okay."

He reached out and took Maria by the hand and pulled her over to where the others stood. Max stood up and held out his hand to Liz, and they, along with Isabel, formed a circle around Michael. After several minutes, Michael's eyes fluttered open and he looked around at the others standing over him.

"Thanks," he said, his voice raspy. "Thank you," he said again, looking directly at Liz.

"We need to get him home," Isabel said.

"I'm going with you," said Maria.

"You don't need to," began Isabel.

"Yes, I do," interrupted Maria.

"We'll all go," said Max, stemming the argument that was about to occur. "Michael, can you climb down the fire escape?"

"Yeah," said Michael, his voice shaky. "I think so."

"I'll go first," offered Alex. "As long as you promise not to land on me."

Maria climbed back through Liz's window, while Max and Liz watched Alex, followed by Michael and Isabel.

"Are you coming?" Max asked, looking down into Liz's eyes.

"Yeah. I'll ride with Maria."

"We'll meet you at Michael's apartment," said Max. He swung one leg over the ledge and turned back to Liz. "How did you know my cell phone number?" he asked. "I just got it the other day."

"I – I don't know," Liz said, helplessly. "I don't know."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen** – _Disclosure_

Liz charged down the stairs into the CrashDown café and skidded to a halt and looked anxiously around for Maria. She scanned the crowded café, and while she saw a lot of familiar faces, she didn't see the gamine features of her best friend anywhere.

"Lost?" a voice said beside her. Liz turned and saw Kyle standing beside her, an expectant look upon his face.

"Have you seen Maria?" she asked, still looking around, frantically. 

"Yeah, she took off out of here on two wheels just as I was pulling in. Why what's wrong?" he replied.

"Come on, we have to hurry," Liz said. She grabbed his hand and began to pull him towards the front door of the café, shooting a smile and a wave at her father.

"You two kids don't be too late, okay?" her dad called from his post at the register.

"We won't dad," Liz said. "We're meeting Maria, Alex, and a few other kids. See you later. Don't wait up," she added over her shoulder as the door closed behind her, it's silver bell tinkling in their wake.

"Do you mind telling me what's going on here?" Kyle demanded, stopping on the sidewalk.

"Come on," Liz said, frantically, tugging on the sleeve of his jacket. "I'll explain on the way. We don't have much time."

Kyle looked down to Liz's face and saw the anguish in his eyes. It was a feeling he was all too familiar with of late. Instinct told him to get the hell out of there, as quickly as possible, but his heart told him he was right where he belonged. Much as it pained him to admit it that is.

"Okay," he said in resignation. "Let's go, only tell me, where are we going? Though I suppose as long as it's not Mars, I'm good." 

Liz gave a small giggle, despite the seriousness of the situation and followed Kyle to his car. Once inside, she gave him a brief overview of what had happened, and asked him to take her to Michael's new apartment.

"What was he doing out on your patio, anyhow?" demanded Kyle.

"I don't know," admitted Liz. "But I'm glad he was. I mean if there are more of them out there, and some of them aren't friendly, I guess I'm glad that he was out there."

"Great, it wasn't enough to be dreaming that Alex dies, now we're in actual danger," said Kyle. "Excuse me if I'm not excited at the prospect of little green aliens trying to kill me. You know, I didn't sign on for any of this. I was only stopping by the CrashDown to see if you could help me find something at the library."

"Kyle Valenti at the library?" asked Liz. "I'm having a hard time seeing that."

"Maybe I'm trying to turn over a new leaf," Kyle said, his voice filled with mock defensiveness.

"More like trying to impress a girl," teased Liz.

"Yeah, about that," said Kyle, flushing a little. "I know we dated some last year and during the summer but I don't know, it just doesn't seem,"

"Quite right," Liz finished for him. "I was thinking the same thing. Something is kind of off about it."

"Exactly," said Kyle. "Liz, you're a great person, and I'd do just about anything for you, but I just don't think we're destined to be together."

"Wh-what did you say?" Liz said.

A concerned Kyle looked over at Liz, her features illuminated by the streetlights under which they passed.

"Please don't tell me you're having another one of those freaky déjà vu things," Kyle begged.

"No, not really, Liz hedged. "Something about the phrase destined to be together just rubbed me the wrong way. I just didn't like it very much."

The two drove along silently for several minutes, Kyle concentrating on the road as a way of avoiding the real issues at hand, and Liz staring out into the night, her mind a million miles away.

"Did you mean it?" she asked him suddenly.

"Did I mean what?" asked Kyle, still watching the road ahead.

"About doing just about anything for me," said Liz. "Did you mean it?" 

"Yeah, I guess," said Kyle. "I mean, I'm not going to rob a bank for you or anything, but otherwise, yeah, sure."

"Would you sleep with me?"

"What?" Kyle shouted. His foot jammed on the brake and the car skidded to a halt. Kyle's hand reached out instinctively to stop Liz from hitting the windshield, and he twisted around in the drivers seat to stare at her.

"What did you just say? Cause I'm telling you Liz, as far as propositions go, that one kind of sucked."

"I – never mind," said Liz, shaking her head. "I don't know what I was saying. Just forget about it."

"Like hell I'll forget about it," said Kyle. He pulled the car over to the side of the road and switched off the ignition. "What's going on, Liz. We just got done having a discussion about how we _don't_ belong together, and now you're asking me to sleep with you? Something isn't making any sense at all."

"That's just it, Kyle," Liz said crying softly. "Nothing has made sense for a long time now. Ever since the day I was shot in the CrashDown." 

"Liz," Kyle said gently, beginning to fear for Liz's sanity. "You weren't shot in the CrashDown, remember? Maria was."

"I know," Liz almost wailed. "I was there, remember?"

"Then why are you saying you were shot, if you know it was Maria?" Kyle asked. He tried to keep his voice calm and even, hoping to placate Liz long enough for someone to come along and get him some help. 

"Kyle, I'm not losing my mind," said Liz. "Stop looking like you expect me to go psycho on you."

"You already did that when you asked me to sleep with you?" said Kyle, laughing to hide his nervousness.

"Look this is your fault," said Liz. "You told me you didn't want to know about anymore of those déjà vu things, remember?" 

"So you decided to shock the shit out of me instead? Nice plan, Liz." 

Liz sat with her face in her hands, and her shoulders shaking violently. Kyle, always uncomfortable with sobbing females reached over and patted her clumsily on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Liz. I didn't mean to upset you. Don't worry, we'll figure this out, I know we will."

Liz took her hands away from her face and looked at Kyle, her face wreathed in smiles.

"You're not crying?" he asked.

"N-no," she choked out between giggles. "I'm not."

"You're laughing – at me, aren't you?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, Kyle, but yes, I'm laughing at you," said Liz. "But I'm laughing at me, too, so don't feel bad. I just replayed that whole conversation in my mind. Oh Kyle, the way you reacted was priceless."

"Great, well if you're done laughing at my last great act of nobility in this lifetime or the next, can you please move on to the part about us sleeping together. Because now that I'm thinking about it, I'd be stupid not to take you up on it," said Kyle, relaxing a little now that he was fairly certain Liz wasn't losing her mind.

"It was just this whole thing that flashed through my mind when you said that bit about us not being destined to be together. I saw Max, and I, and this blond girl. Then I saw Max again, in a sombrero. Then Max was next to me in my room, but it wasn't Max, he was older, colder and harder. Then there was an Elvis wedding chapel and then I saw you and I in bed."

"Wedding chapel," said Kyle. "Vegas. Harvey Wallbanger, Tom Collins, Rob Roy."

"Brandy Alexander, Margarita Salt, Pina Colada and Shirley Temple," continued Liz. "Kyle, are we playing a drinking game?"

"You knew those names, Liz," Kyle said excitedly. "You didn't even think about it; you knew those names. Why? Why do we know this stuff?"

"I don't know," Liz admitted. "I really don't. Come on, let's get to Michael's and make sure he's okay. Maybe the others can help us make some sense of this."

"I doubt it, but okay," said Kyle.

He eased the car back out onto the road in the direction of Michael's apartment, and hopefully, some answers.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty** _Venom_

Max was closest to the door when the knock came, so he jumped up and opened it to find Liz and Kyle standing on the other side. A feeling of rage welled up inside of him, and he gripped the doorframe trying to contain it.

"Oh, God, Max, stop it," Liz cried. She pointed to his hand on the doorframe and he moved, it, revealing a scorched imprint of his hand. 

"What's wrong with you?" she asked. "And is Michael okay."

"Like you care," Max said, bitterly. "It took you long enough to get here. What did the two of you do, stop and park or something?" 

Liz recoiled as if she had been slapped, and tears flooded her eyes. The venom in his voice, and the anger in his voice was a double-edged sword, and she stepped back into the shelter of Kyle's arms as if she had been stabbed.

"What the hell is your problem, Max?" demanded Kyle. "She got here as soon as she could. She came flying down into the CrashDown, white as a ghost, but low and behold, none of you, or your kind had waited around for her. The one who saved your friend's life. Remember that?"

"Forget it Kyle, let's just get out of here," said Liz. "We can go check out that thing at the library."

"What thing at the library?" asked Max, jealously.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it, Senor Presidente," snapped Kyle.

The term only served to enrage Max further, and he turned to close the door when Isabel pushed him aside.

"Maybe you'd better come in," she said. "The doorway isn't the place to be having this discussion."

"Is Michael okay?" Liz asked, her concern evident in her voice.

"He's resting," said Isabel. "Maria's in with him, though for the life of me, I can't figure out why. Those two can't stand each other."

"What happened tonight, Liz?" Alex asked from his perch on Michael's decrepit sofa.

Liz's gaze wandered around the apartment as she formulated her thoughts. Her eyes stopped at the large television that overpowered the dusty corner of the room, then moved to the coffee table littered with the remains of several meals.

"It wasn't much more than I told you already," said Liz. "I was sitting outside, writing, when my mother called me. When I got inside, she told me I had a phone call, but when I picked up the phone nobody was there. I asked her who it was, and she said she thought it was Alex."

"I didn't call you, Liz," Alex said. "Maria and I were practicing with my band, and we planned on calling you later."

"Yeah, well, anyhow, I went back to my room and started getting changed. I was going to jump into the shower, when I heard a loud bang outside, and saw a flash of light. I ran outside and found Michael. Come on, I told you all of this already. Nothing's changed since then," Liz said in frustration.

"Are you sure you don't remember anything else?" asked Max. His voice was still very harsh. Every time he looked over at Liz standing next to Kyle, he felt something churning in his gut. He had to force back the burning desire he had to kill Kyle right then and there.

"You know what, Max. I don't have to take this from you," said Liz. "I'm not some docile little lamb destined to follow you around. You have a different destiny, one that doesn't involve me. Now go chase after him if you have to, but leave me alone."

"Liz, what did you say?" asked Kyle as everyone else looked at Liz in shock. Nobody ever expected such a violent outburst to come from her. 

"I said he had a different destiny, and it didn't involve me, and he could go chase after it if he wanted to, but to leave me alone," said Liz.

"No, no you didn't," said Isabel. "You told him to go chase after him. You said him, not it. Who is _he_, Liz? Do you remember?" 

"It must have just been a slip of the tongue, Isabel, that's all," said Liz.

"I'm not buying it Liz," said Max, this time, his tone gentle. "It wasn't a slip of the tongue, and it wasn't a coincidence, any more than any of the other things that have happened lately have been a coincidence. We just have to figure out what it all means." 

"You might as well tell him the rest of it," said Kyle in resignation. He flung himself onto the couch next to Alex and began to cough when a cloud of dust rose up around him.

"I'm not really sure," said Liz. "There's something about the library, but I don't know what. Kyle stopped by the CrashDown tonight to see if I wanted to get something from the library, and that seemed so familiar to me, but I don't know why."

"Plenty of guys ask girls to go to the library," said Max, the jealous tone creeping back into his voice.

"Not me," said Kyle from the couch. "The library's the last place I'd want to go."

"And then when we were driving here, something really weird happened," said Liz.

"What was it?" asked Isabel from behind the counter in the small kitchenette. While she talked, she scrubbed futilely at the filthy grout. Finally, in resignation, she passed her hand over the counter and used her powers to eradicate the grime that had built up over the years. She changed the color of the tile to a blue while she looked at Liz speculatively. A memory echoed in her mind, dancing just out of reach. She turned the tile back to white while she waited for Liz to answer.

"Well, Kyle and I were discussing how we thought we make better friends than anything else," said Liz.

"Well, that's no startling revelation," said Maria joining them. She stood in the doorway to Michael's bed her arm around Michael's waist, lending support to his shaky body. "I told you that a long time ago. No offense, Liz, but I was telling you that a long time ago."

"Michael, should you be out of bed?" asked Max.

"Yeah, I'm good," Michael said with a slight groan. "So does somebody want to tell me who the hell happened tonight?"

"Well, we were kind of hoping you could," said Max. "Do you remember anything at all?"

"Well, I stopped by the CrashDown to pick up some food. I was climbing on my bike when I saw someone going up the fire escape. It looked like the same guy I saw in the kitchen the day of the earthquake," Michael explained.

"What earthquake?" asked Max.

"Never mind, that's not important," said Maria.

"Well, I followed him up the fire escape, and watched. At first, he was just reading some book, and I figured maybe I was wrong and Liz was just gonna be studying with someone. Anyhow, then this guy starts staring in her window, moving closer and closer. It took me a minute to realize what he was doing, and when I did, I jumped him. That's the last thing I remember until I opened my eyes and saw Liz putting a pillow under my head."

Michael closed his eyes, and tried to erase the memory of the searing pain on his skin. Nothing, including the many beatings Hank had given him had even come close to equaling the agonizing pain he had felt tonight. He had thought he was going to die, and had in fact, prayed for a quick release from the agony he endured. But through the pain, he had heard a soft voice calling to him, telling him to hold on. He opened his eyes, to see Liz leaning over him. He had saved her, and she had repaid the favor in turn.

They all began talking at once, each trying to be heard over the other, and nobody paying attention to each other, and the noise level grew louder and louder.

"We all need to stop," said Isabel, suddenly. "There's too much going on. We're not planning and thinking – there's no organization to anything that we're doing. If we keep going on like this, we're not going to accomplish anything."

"I agree with Isabel," said Liz. "I've been trying to keep track of everything that's been happening to me, in my journal. Maybe if we make up a master plan or something, we can find a pattern to all of this."

"Liz, where is this journal of yours?" asked Michael, his voice still shaky.

Liz paused to think for a moment before answering, trying to remember where she'd left it.

"Oh," she said suddenly. "I was writing out on my patio when my mother called me. I left it there when I went inside."

"And that's what our mysterious stranger was reading, before he decided to become a peeping Tom," said Max.

"We need that journal," said Michael.

"I'll go back and get it," said Alex. "The Parkers won't think twice about letting me into Liz's room."

"I'm going with you," Isabel said with amazing speed. "You shouldn't be out there alone."

Alex looked as if he was ready to argue, but one look at Isabel's determined face quickly changed his minds. She'd get no arguments from him. They made their way to Alex's car and drove off into the night, unaware of the car that followed them at a discreet distance


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-One** – _Nicholas_

Nicholas brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes as he waited outside Michael's apartment. He knew that eventually, someone would leave the apartment, and he'd act. No matter what he did, they seemed to be drawn together, almost as if it were preordained. Nothing he did seemed to drive them apart. He remained firm in his convictions that one of them had to die, but the question remained, who? He had been convinced that one of the humans must die because he needed the others to bring him to the Granolith, but lately he had begun to rethink that decision. As long as one of the Antarians survived to take him to the Granolith, it didn't matter if the others died. 

They owed him that much. After the imbecile Rath clone destroyed the husks, he knew that his only chance of survival was the Granolith. Attacking en masse as they had before hadn't worked. Zan's bitch of a wife destroyed the others. He was only able to escape because of his ability to bend time. Who knew she was capable of using her powers that way. She certainly wasn't capable of much on Antar. She didn't even warm his bed effectively.

Persuading them to go to the summit in New York had been another exercise in futility. First those defective sewer dwelling clones had almost ruined everything. Then the summit was a complete failure. This new Zan was proving to be just as stubborn as the old one. His refusal to give up the Granolith not only grated on his nerves, it put his very life in jeopardy. He _needed_ that damn thing if he going to survive. Actually, what he needed was to get the hell off of this God forsaken planet and back to Antar before it was to late.

Nicholas shifted uncomfortably in the seat of the truck he had stolen. It was a piece of garbage, but it was inconspicuous in the dump of a neighborhood Rath had chosen for his home. He was sick of waiting, sick of trying to hold on to the time shift, sick of everything. He just wanted to go home, back to his own body. The one Vilondra, Ava and countless other woman, fought over. Here, on this planet, he was nothing. A simple boy that nobody took seriously, and he resented it. Kivar put him in this body as a punishment for allowing the duplicated essences of the royal four escape. He had vowed to find a way back to Antar and avenge himself. He looked forward to crushing Kivar's skull to a bloody pulp under his boot, and he wasn't about to let Zan and his royal flunkies keep it from happening.

A flash of light from Rath's apartment caught his attention, and he shifted once again, and sank lower in the seat to escape detection. Over the dash, he saw Vilondra walking purposefully down the path, with one of the bumbling humans trailing after her like a lovesick puppy dog. Nicholas could understand the expression on the human's face; he felt the same way himself. He wanted Vilondra so badly that it was a physical ache. There had been a time in his life when he would have done anything to get her to want him the way he wanted her. He had even pursued Zan's slut of a wife Ava in an effort to make her jealous. But he couldn't let those old feelings resurface now. He had to focus with a single-minded determination on his goal, to get back to Antar.

He watched as Vilondra and the human climbed into a battered car and drove off. His gaze shifted between the apartment house, and the car as he tried to decide what to do. The desire to stay, and possibly take out Zan or Rath was strong, but the desire to follow the beautiful Vilondra was even stronger. Finally, he started the truck and drove off down the street, trying to catch up with the car. It didn't take him long to catch up with the battered silver vehicle, and he was careful to follow it at a discreet distance.

After a short ride through the Roswell business district, the car pulled up in front of the CrashDown Café. Nicholas parked several blocks away and exited the truck unobserved. He sauntered casually into the café and took a seat at the opposite end of the counter from where Vilondra sat alone. He picked up a menu to hide his face from her. He was fairly positive there was no chance Vilondra would remember him from the other time line, but he wasn't taking any chances. He pulled his hat down lower on his head and shamelessly eavesdropped on the conversation she was having with the man behind the counter.

"Thanks again, Mr. Parker, for letting Alex grab those books. We all decided to study together, and Liz takes the best notes out of all of us," she said. She took a sip from the soda Mr. Parker had placed in front of her and smiled.

"No problem," Jeff Parker said, wiping down the counter. "And Alex knows where Liz keeps all of her things, so he'll be able to find it right away. Can I help you?" he asked, noticing he young boy at the end of the counter.

"No, I'm still thinking," came the muffled voice from behind the menu. 

"No problem," Jeff said amicably. "The grill closes in an hour though."

"Oh, here comes Alex," Isabel said, the relief in her voice evident. 

"Did you find what you needed, Alex?" Jeff asked.

"Sure did, Mr. Parker, and thanks. "It was right where Liz said it would be."

"And explain to me again why she didn't come herself?" Jeff asked, trying not to sound like a suspicious father.

"She was afraid if she showed up here, you'd talk her into doing another shift, Mr. Parker," Alex said guilelessly.

"She's probably right," Jeff admitted with a laugh. "Agnes called off yet again. Well you kids have a good time studying, and here are some snacks to help." He passed a large take out bag across the counter to Isabel who took it with a smile.

"Thanks Mr. Parker, I'm sure this will really help ease the pain of studying on a Friday night," she said with a smile.

Jeff watched with a smile as the two teens left the café. He didn't know about Isabel, but it was as plain as the nose on his face that Alex had it bad for the blond girl. He liked Alex, he only hoped this girl didn't break Alex's heart.

"So, did you make up your mind?" he asked turning to the end of the counter where the young boy sat, only the boy was gone.

"That's funny," he said to the deserted counter. "I could have sworn the kid was still there. Oh well."

He walked back to the kitchen, not noticing the rusty pick up truck that followed Alex's car down the road.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-Two** – _Crash_

"Hello, Dad," Liz said into her cell phone.

_Hi Lizzie, what's up sweetie? How goes the studying?_ came her father's tinny reply.

"Dad, have Alex and Isabel left yet?" Liz asked. "We really need the books they were getting."

_Liz, Alex and Isabel left here over an hour ago,_ Jeff answered. _You mean to tell me that they're not there yet?_

"No, they're not," said Liz. "Maybe they just had car trouble or something," she added hopefully. "Okay, thanks, Dad. We'll go see if we can find them."

_Liz, wait,_ her father said.

"Gotta run, Dad. We'll call you as soon as we find them." Liz said. She quickly disconnected the call so that her father couldn't ask any awkward questions and turned a worried face to the others.

"He says they left the CrashDown over an hour ago," she said, her expression worried.

"We need to go look for them," said Max. "And fast before whatever is doing this to us has time to do any more damage."

"Let me get my shoes and we can head out," groaned Michael as he tried to pull himself up off of the dilapidated sofa.

"Whoa! Not so fast, Space Boy. You're not going anywhere," said Maria. "You just got," she paused, "Well, I don't know what you got, but it wasn't good, and you need some time to get over it." 

Michael glared at Maria, his eyes wishing a thousand different deaths on her for interfering in his life. Nobody had ever shown the least bit of concern for him, and he wasn't comfortable with Maria doing it now, even if it did give him a warm glowing feeling in his gut.

"Maria's right, Michael," said Max. "You need to stay here and regain your strength."

Michael chaffed at being kept out of the action, but he knew both Max and Maria were right. The quickest way to regain his strength was to rest. He grumbled an acknowledgement and collapsed against the sofa, trying to groan again.

"Liz, why don't you come with me," Kyle and Max said together.

Liz caught her lower lip between her teeth and looked from Max, to Kyle, unsure of what to do.

"Kyle, look," said Max. "Whatever is happening, it seems to be directed at Liz, and I can protect her better than you."

"That's crap," said Kyle. "Did you ever thing that's whatever is happening is happening _because_ of you, and if she's with you, she'll be in more danger!"

"Max, Kyle, stop it!" Liz shouted. "Will the two of you stop with the testosterone already? We don't have time for this. Someone, or something is out there, and we don't know why, or what it wants. The last thing I want to do is listen to the two of you go at each other while our lives are in jeopardy."

Kyle and Max both looked shamefacedly at the ground, and then Liz, but never at each other, finally Michael decided to speak.

"Look, Liz is right," he said. "We don't have time for this. The three of you should go together, and Maria can stay here with me." 

"What, why?" Maria and Kyle asked, simultaneously.

"Because neither one of you have powers," said Michael with sigh. "You can't protect yourselves against whatever's out there."

"Who died and made you king," said Maria, angry at being ordered around. 

"I'm not the king," Michael said with a long-suffering sigh. "I'm his second in command."

"What?" Maria asked, not unkindly. "Max is the king, and _you're_ the second in command. Where is all of this coming from. King of what?"

"He's right," said Liz, his voice dull. "He's the king, and Tess is his wife."

Max looked at her with a horrified expression on his face. "Liz, I'm nobody's king, and I'm sure as hell nobody's husband. I'm just a kid."

"Not here Max," Liz said. "Up there," she raised her finger and pointed upward. "We need to go to the library," she said. "That's what Kyle and I were talking about earlier. There's something at the library, and we need you to get it."

Michael pushed himself up off of the couch, groaning a little. He went and stood next to Maria, who slipped an arm around his waist in both a comforting and supportive gesture. Michael looked down at the blond gamine faced girl next to him and smiled. Having her there next to him felt right, and it gave him the strength to speak up.

"Maria and I will go out and look for Alex and Isabel," he said in a voice that brooked no arguments. "Maria will drive, it will be okay," he added in an attempt to forestall the barrage he was certain Max was about to unleash. "You three go to the library and find this whatever that Liz is so jazzed about."

"Be careful," Max said. "Don't take any unnecessary chances, and call us if you find anything," he added.

The Roswell Library was about to close for the evening, but Liz pleaded with the librarian to give them just five minutes.

"Please," she begged. "I just need to find one more source to finish my project."

"Okay, Miss Parker," the librarian capitulated. "But only because you are such a regular patron of the library. I wouldn't do this for just anybody."

"Thanks so much, Ms. Nelson," said Liz.

"What's your project on?" the librarian asked Liz conversationally as she led them to the reference section.

"Oh, um," Liz stammered.

"Ancient languages," said Kyle. "We're teamed up on a project on ancient languages, and we need one more book."

"Well, they're right over there," said the librarian with a wave of her hand. I'm just going to go check the rest of the doors. Please be quick."

The waited until Ms. Nelson was out of site before they dashed over to the area the librarian had indicated. Kyle grabbed a chair and climbed up and shoved some books away.

"It's here, I know it is," he said, pushing at the wall.

"Let me try," said Max. He climbed up on the chair next to Kyle and passed his hand over the wall where Kyle was pointing. A panel slid back, and Max slid his hand in and pulled out a book.

"Are you kids ready?" the librarian called from across the room.

"We sure are," said Liz. She reached up and pulled down a book on Latin and walked over to the circulation desk.

"This is exactly what she need," she said, flashing the librarian a blinding smile. "Thank you so much."

"I'm always glad to help," said the librarian. "You kids better hurry," she added. "It's getting late."

"We will," said Max. "Thanks again."

With the aid of a streetlight, Max, Liz and Kyle examined the book. It was unlike anything Liz or Kyle had ever seen before. Max was less certain.

"I feel like I should know what this says," he said, his voice ripe with frustration. "It's like it's right there, on the edge of my memory, but every time I try to reach for it, it slips away." 

"Maybe this will help you," said Liz, her voice dead with pain. She passed the open book to Max, and he stared at the four engraved pictures grouped together.

"That's me and Isabel and Michael," he said, pointing at three of the pictures.

"And that's Tess," Liz said.

"Liz, look, it's just a picture," said Max. "It doesn't mean anything."

"It means everything," said Liz. She started to stay more, but the ringing of her cell phone interrupted her.

"Hello," she said into the phone.

_Liz we found them," said Maria, tears in her voice. IThey had an accident, just outside of town, heading towards the Pullman Ranch._

"We'll be right there," said Liz. She closed her phone and looked at Max. 

"Michael and Maria found them, just outside of town near the Pullman Ranch. They crashed."


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty-Three** – _Action_

"I'll call my dad," said Kyle. "He should be able to get there faster than us."

"No, nobody else can know," said Max.

"Max, Kyle's right. You have to trust him. His dad's our friend, not our enemy. I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but it's true," Liz said. She passed her cell phone to Kyle and he dialed while the three of them ran back out to the Jeep.

"Dad, it's Kyle," Kyle shouted into the phone over the sound of the Jeep as the engine roared to life. "Alex Whitman and Isabel Evans were in a car accident by the Pullman Ranch. NO! Don't send an ambulance. Just trust me, Dad. Please get out there, and hurry. Maria is out there right now, with Michael Guerin. Tell them Max said it was okay. Just tell them, Dad. We're on our way."

The Jeep flew down the streets. Kyle and Liz held on tightly, bouncing in their seats as Max hit every bump on the road.

"Max, slow down!" Liz shouted over the wind. "Getting us killed isn't going to help Alex, or Isabel!"

Liz's words struck a chord of reason in Max, and he eased up slightly on the accelerator. Liz breathed a sigh of relief, and relaxed her death grip on the Jeep's roll bar. She looked out the window, to the darkened highway that stretched on before them. A faint glow in the distance alerted them to the fact that they were approaching the accident scene.

The Sheriff's SUV was pulled off the side of the road, behind Maria's Jetta and signal flares lit the area with an evil glow. Max slammed the Jeep into park and climbed out and ran over to where Michael and Maria stood. As he drew closer he realized that Isabel was kneeling on the ground crying over a body, the body of Alex Whitman.

"Max," she said, her voice filled with tears. "You have to save him. You have to."

"Get out of the way," said Max. He knelt down beside Alex and placed his hand on Alex's body.

"What the hell is going on here?" demanded Sheriff Valenti.

"Dad, just be quiet," said Kyle. "We'll explain everything, later." 

"Max will take care of it," said Isabel, her voice confident. "He'll heal Alex. Of course, we'll have to come up with a cover story to explain the accident, but we can do that."

"What do you mean, heal him?" asked the Sheriff. "We need an ambulance. We need to get this boy some help."

"He's fine, Sheriff Valenti," said Max, standing back up. Everyone looked down and saw Max reaching out a hand to help Alex stand up.

"Does someone want to explain to me what happened?" asked the Sheriff. "And the long version please. Don't leave _anything_ out." 

"We will Sheriff. I promise," said Max. "But first we have to find out what happened."

"We were run off the road," said Isabel. "This big old pick up truck came out of nowhere and forced us into the ditch. And Max, the driver got out and came down and just stared at us. Almost as if he was reassuring himself that we were dead. And he said the strangest thing."

"What? What did he say?" asked Max.

"He looked right at me and said 'Poor Vilondra, what a waste, to have you die again.' Max, he knew me, he knew _us_," said Isabel. 

"Did you recognize him?" asked Michael. "Was there anything about him that was familiar?"

"He was just a little boy," said Isabel. "He couldn't have been any more than twelve or thirteen."

"Nicholas," said Max. "His name is Nicholas."

"Will somebody please tell me what the hell is going on here!" roared the Sheriff.

"Call a wrecker," said Max. "Say you saw an animal dart out in front of Alex's car. He swerved to avoid it, and that's how the accident happened," said Max.

"I'm not doing anything, until somebody tells me what's going on here," said Jim.

"Dad, look, just do it," said Kyle. "I promise you, nobody's doing anything illegal. We'll meet you at the Flying Pepperoni, and we'll explain everything."

"Kyle," Jim said, a warning in his voice.

"Sheriff Valenti, they're telling the truth," said Alex, who had, up to now, been silent. "I'll wait with you for the wrecker, and then we can meet them at the Flying Pepperoni."

Jim looked doubtful, but acquiesced, and he an Alex watched as the rest of the group climbed into the remaining vehicles and headed back towards town.

"Start talking Alex, and it better be good," said Jim. He reached into his SUV and grabbed the mike to his radio. He radioed for a wrecker and then turned back to Alex.

"Let's have it," he said. "Start at the beginning, and don't leave anything out."

"Well, to start with, I don't think I'm supposed to be alive. I think I should have died in that accident. I'm pretty sure I did the last time."

"Alex, what are you talking about, the last time?" asked the Sheriff. "Are you sure you're okay? Maybe we _should_ have an ambulance out here for you."

"No, really, I'm good," said Alex. "See, the thing is, well, Max has this, um, ability to heal people. That's why I'm here right now, and why Maria isn't dead, too."

"That day at the CrashDown," said the Sheriff. "She really was shot, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, Max saved her," said Alex, but then some really strange things started happening."

"Max saving Maria's life isn't strange?" asked the Sheriff.

"No, stranger than that," said Alex. "We, all of us, started remembering things, kind of like déjà vu type of a thing. We were trying to make sense of it, when the accident happened."

"So what are you talking about, you should be dead? I'm confused," said the Sheriff.

"We all are," said Alex. "But I think if we figure everything out, I'm going to end up dead."


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24** – _Memory_

"So, what your saying me is after Liz got shot, Max healed her?" Jim asked Alex as he steered the Bronco down the dark highway.

"Yes, no, wait," said Alex, confused. "It wasn't Liz, it was Maria, but the thing is, Sheriff, you're not the only one who keeps mixing that up. Liz has had dreams that she was shot, and Max has mentioned it, too. We all seem to be remembering things that happened, but we're remembering them differently."

"I'm not really sure why I believe you, Alex, but I do. Nothing about this makes sense, but I'm going with my gut on this one," said Jim Valenti. He took his eyes off the road briefly and looked at the young man sitting in the passenger seat beside him. In all his years as Sheriff, he'd never had a run in with Alex, and even though his tale was bordering on the brink of insanity, he was certain he was telling the truth. His mind was screaming that it was all lies, but somewhere, within the deepest recesses of his heart, he knew he was hearing the truth.

"Are you going to turn them in?" Alex asked, hesitantly.

"No, God helm me, I'm not," said the Sheriff. "First off, who'd believe me, and secondly, can't they just erase my memory or something to stop me from doing that?"

"They can't do," Alex began, then stopped as another memory washed over them.

"Alex, what is it!" shouted the Sheriff, alarmed at the expression on Alex's face.

"They can't do that," Alex continued, his voice bleak. "But Tess can, and that's how I'm going to die."

We need to figure this out," said Max, looking around the large table at the others. "And fast. I can't help but feel like something, or someone is working against us."

"Well that's really brilliant," Kyle said, antagonistically. "Considering what happened to Michael and all."

"Look, it's not like you know anything about it," said Max, his voice tinged with anger.

"Yeah, well it looks like I know as much about it as you do," said Kyle. "And that's absolutely nothing."

"Will you two shut up and sit down," Isabel hissed. "You're causing a scene, an the waitress is coming over with our pizza."

Max and Kyle glared at each other in silent enmity while the waitress placed the steaming pizzas on the table. After verifying that they didn't want anything else, she left the table, and Liz began to pass around slices of the pie in an attempt to end the awkward silence.

Maria reached across the table and handed Michael a bottle of Tabasco Sauce, and a packet of sugar and began to eat her pizza. After several bites, she put the slice down and looked warily at the others who were staring at her.

"What, do I have cheese on my face or something?" she asked.

"Why did you give Michael the Tabasco Sauce, and the sugar?" Isabel asked.

"He puts the Tabasco in his soda, and the sugar is for the pizza," said Maria. "Why?"

"But how did you _know_ that?" asked Isabel.

"I don't know, I just knew it," said Maria. "It wasn't anything I thought about, I just did it."

"It's happening again," said Max.

"Isabel, do you have my journal?" asked Liz. Isabel nodded and passed the journal to Liz, who flipped over her placemat and began to scribble rapidly, often referring back to pages in her journal. Within minutes she had a list of all her _memories_. She drew separate columns for each of the others and began to write in the different _memories_ they had as well.

"Well," she said after she was done writing. "Either we're all having one great big giant déjà vu experience, or something is radically wrong here."

"Something is radically wrong here," said Alex, pulling up a chair and sitting down. "I think I know how I'm going to die."

Isabel gave a small gasp at Alex's pronouncement and knocked over a glass of water, which spilled into the lap of Sheriff Valenti who had taken a seat at the corner of the table next to Isabel.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Sheriff Valenti!" she cried. "Let me take care of that for you." She covered her hand with a napkin and held it over the sheriff's lap, and when she removed her hand, his pants were completely dry.

"Isabel," Max hissed. "What are you doing?"

"What!" she retorted. "I thought we decided we could trust him." 

"Coffee!" Liz said suddenly. "You did the same thing for me with the coffee." 

"That's right," said Isabel. "It was all over your shirt. I didn't want to help you; in fact, I resented the hell out of you. Why, though, why was I resentful of you?"

"I don't know," said Liz. "But it's one more thing to add to the list." She reached for her pen and began to scribble on the placemat once more.

"Alex," she said when she had finished. "What do you mean you know how you're going to die? Nobody's going to die!"

"Don't give me that, Liz. Even you yourself said it one time," Alex argued. "Some how, for some reason, most of us have a memory of me dying, and I'm pretty positive I know how it happens. One of you kill me," he added, looking at the aliens.

Max, Michael and Isabel, drew back imperceptibly at Alex's pronouncement, all of them feeling as though they had been physically attacked. They looked at each other in horror. None of them felt capable hurting anybody, let alone kill anyone.

"Hold on there, Alex," said the Sheriff. "That's a pretty harsh statement to make, no matter what's going on."

"Sheriff, it's true," said Alex. "I swear to you, I'm not making this up. _Nobody_ could make any of this up. It's too bizarre. I started remembering something when you made that comment about erasing your memory. That's what someone did. Well not erase exactly, but they pushed at my brain so hard, there was nothing left. I was like a walking, talking vegetable."

"You were fighting with them," said Kyle, quietly, continuing Alex's tale. "You were in my room, arguing and crying about how she had pushed and pushed, and now there was nothing left, and then you were on the ground."

"Isabel?" Maria whispered. "You?"

"No, it wasn't Isabel," said Liz. "It was Tess."


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25** – _Recollection_

The name hung over the table, like a dark cloud, causing varying feelings of discomfort in everybody. Finally, the sheriff broke the silence. 

"Tess," he said, musingly. "I know that name. Is she a school friend of yours?"

"We don't know," said Kyle. "She's someone, but we're not sure who she is or how she fits in to everything."

"She's gone," said Max, suddenly. "And she took something very important to me."

When he finished speaking, Liz jumped up, her face white, and ran from the restaurant. Before the others could react, Max jumped from his seat and followed Liz out into the parking lot.

"Not _that_," said Maria. "Seems really familiar."

"Liz, Liz! Wait up!" Max called. He rushed out of the restaurant into the cool night air, and looked around until he found Liz crying against the side of Maria's car.

Max stopped beside her and reached out and tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder.

"What is it, what's wrong?" he asked, his voice soft. "What did I say that upset you so much?"

Liz turned to Max, and he found himself staring down into her dark brown eyes, mesmerized by the reflection of the flashing neon lights that were reflected in their inky depths. Max felt compelled to lean down and press his lips to hers. It felt so right, so natural to take her in his arms.

He bent his head down to hers and kissed her, gently at first, then with a growing passion. As they kissed, Max felt the world spin out of control, almost as if they were on a merry-go-round gone wild. Images began to slam into his mind, faster than he could process them. He heard Liz whimper, and still he kissed her, afraid to break the connection between them.

"Max, Liz, get out of the way!" a voice screamed. Max dragged his lips away from Liz and looked up in time to see the headlights of a truck bearing down on them. Max reacted quickly, and dragged Liz out of the way as the truck flew past them, catching the edge of the Jetta's bumper and ripping it from the car.

"Liz, oh my God, are you all right?" Maria cried, running over to her friend.

Liz groaned and pulled herself off the ground and looked around. 

"Didn't he stop?" she asked, looking around dazedly for the truck.

"No, he didn't," said the Sheriff. "But I got a good description of the truck and part of the plate. I'm going to go call it in now. Did anybody see the driver?"

"It looked like a little boy," said Isabel. "An irritatingly familiar and eerie little boy, but that can't be right. I mean, why would little boy be driving a truck?"

"There was a boy in the CrashDown tonight too," said Alex. "Kind of weird looking, with dark hair." He looked around at everyone, a troubled expression on his face. He opened his mouth to say something else, then thought better of it. Isabelle looked at him questioningly, but he only shook his head.

"It's nothing," he said, softly.

"Are you sure?" She queried.

No, but until I have a better idea of what I'm talking about, I'm not going to say anything."

"Well, we're not going to solve anything standing around here," the Sheriff said. "Why doesn't everyone go home? Tomorrow, as they say, is another day, after all."

Maria looked ruefully at the remains of her bumper, lying on the ground in a crumpled heap.

"My mother is so going to kill me," she said.

"Maybe not," said Michael. He knelt down and passed his hand over the bumper and it straightened out. Without a word, Kyle reached down and fitted the bumper to the car and Max used his powers to adhere the two pieces together.

"I guess my mother _isn't_ going to kill me," Maria said. "Or maybe she will," she added looking at her watch. "It is way late."

"Come on," said the Sheriff. "I'll take care of everything. Just follow me."

Liz climbed out onto her rooftop patio and stared up into the night sky. To say the night had been uneventful was something of an understatement. Thanks to Sheriff Valenti, she wasn't even grounded for being out so late. He had brought each one of them to their doors, and explained to the parents about the car accident, and how they had decided to wait as a group for help to arrive rather than leaving some of them alone to wait in the desert while the others went to get help. Kyle's father had been so convincing, all of the parents were commending themselves for raising such smart children. 

Liz sighed, the soft sound carrying on the night air, and walked over to her chair. She sat down and opened the journal that Isabel had given back to her just before she went home. She reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out the folded placemats that they had scribbled notes on at the Flying Pepperoni. She smoothed the creases out of them and laid them on her lap next to her journal.

"The answer is here," she said to the empty rooftop. "I just have to find it."

She thumbed through the pages of her journal, trying to make sense of everything she had written, but the more she read, the more confused she became. Giving up in exasperation, she allowed the journal to fall into her lap, and she gazed upward to the night sky. The stars danced before her eyes, and she stared, tracing the patterns of the various constellations.

Suddenly, the stars began to swirl violently, spinning faster and faster. Liz gripped the arms of her chair; afraid she was going to fly off into the whirling maelstrom. As quickly as it had begun, the spinning stopped. Liz loosened her grip on the arms of the chair. She climbed shakily to her feet, her breath coming in short gasps, and she made her way back into her bedroom.

Once inside, she held tightly to her bureau and stared at her face in the mirror, expecting to see some change. The face that stared back at her was pinched and white, with eyes that appeared too large, and filled with a great sadness.

Her gaze shifted to the familiar pictures that decorated the edges of her mirror. Alex and Maria smiled out at her from varying poses, and she smiled slightly as she remembered some of the occasions captured on film. She reached out and took down a picture, and admired the way she and her friends looked in their prom finery. She was unaware of the tears that coursed down her cheeks as she reached and touched Alex's face in the picture. Her gaze shifted to Tess, and she felt her heart harden and the rush of hate shooting through her body. 

Memories flooded her brain, and the picture fell, unnoticed, from her grasp as she grabbed back on to the dresser to steady her both physically, as well as emotionally. She whirled around and ran to her desk and pulled open a drawer. It crashed to the floor, and she dropped to the ground and began to paw through the scattered pieces of miscellany until she found what she was looking for. She looked at the rectangular piece of cardboard she held in her hand. On one side was a picture of some saint and the phrase "Go With God." She stared at it for several minutes afraid to turn it over.

Finally, with trembling hands, she turned it over and found a small picture of Alex and underneath it the dates June 21, 1984 – April.

"No!" she shouted as the room began to spin wildly out of control. "No! I won't let it happen, it can't happen!"

Liz fought violently, trying to stop the feeling of vertigo that overtook her. She held on with a will she didn't know she possessed, but at last, she gave in and closed her eyes against the flashing lights. 

Nicholas rolled over on his back, panting, staring up the sky, watching as the sun peeked over the horizon. He was losing his strength, and Liz was getting stronger and stronger. He almost lost his grasp on the time shift. If she had fought much longer, he wasn't sure he could hold out against her. Something needed to be done.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position, and grimaced as he saw the strip of skin dangling from his arm. Ripping it away in disgust, he glared at the bedroom window of Liz Parker. He was going to kill her and cement this reality, or die trying.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26** – _Putting it Together_

Liz Parker woke up slowly, groaning slightly at the stiffness in her body.

_I must have fallen asleep out on the patio,_ she thought to herself. 

Angry at herself for doing that, she opened her eyes slowly so the bright sunlight of the morning wouldn't be too much an assault to her sleep fogged mind.

_Something's not right,I she thought. IThis **isn't** the patio. It' s my bedroom, and what am I doing on the floor?_

With a groan, Liz pulled herself up into a sitting position and looked around her room. Her desk and dresser looked as if a thief had ransacked them. On the floor lay one of her desk drawers, it's contents scattered around the floor.

She crawled over and flipped the drawer right side up and prepared to scoop the contents back inside, when she became aware of a piece of paper clutched tightly in one hand.

She unfolded the paper with shaking hands, afraid to look at it, but more afraid of not knowing what it said. She smoothed out the last crease and saw Alex's smiling face staring back at her.

"It's just a picture," she said out loud to the empty room in relief. "Just a," she stopped as her mind registered the meaning of the words printed beneath the picture June 21, 1984 – April 29, 2001. 

A silent scream ripped through her mind and she crumpled the card in her hand.

"No, not Alex," she whimpered. She ran across the room and looked at the calendar tacked to the wall above her desk.

"Wait, this can't be right," she said out loud. "It's only October 12, 1999." But even as she said the words, she knew deep within the inner recesses of her heart that it was right. Alex wasn't supposed to be alive.

Liz showered quickly and ran down the stairs of her family's apartment, still buttoning her shirt as she ran. She waved to her father shouting something unintelligible as she ran to deflect any questions he may have had for her. Out on the street she stopped for a second, unsure of where to go. She thought for a minute and then found herself running down the street in the direction of Alex's house. 

She bypassed the front door and ran around to the back of the house and peered in Alex's window to see if he was awake. She raised her hand to knock on the glass and stopped as she realized there were two figures in Alex's bed, and one of them had long blond hair. She began to back away slowly as the figures began to stir, but not before she recognized a very naked Isabel Evans pressing kisses on the equally naked Alex. Blushing, Liz turned and ran out of the yard. 

A short time later, after wandering aimlessly around the residential streets of Roswell, Liz found herself standing in front of the home of Max Evans. Unsure of how to proceed, Liz stood under a tree, just staring at the house.

Fate for once had decided to work with Liz, and in a short while, the front door opened, and Max stepped out, dressed in shorts and a pair of running shoes. He stretched briefly on the front lawn, and Liz watched, enjoying the way the sun shone on his muscles as he contorted his body into various positions.

She waited until he started to move away from the house before she sprinted until she caught up with him.

"Max, wait! Max!" she called to him. "I need to talk to you." 

"Liz," he answered with pleasure. "I'm guessing you didn't come out here to go jogging with me," he said, his grin fading as he saw the distressed expression on her face. "What's the matter, Liz?" 

"Max, what do you think this means?" Liz asked handing him the crumpled card she had clutched like a talisman on her journey through town. 

"What is this, someone's sick idea of a joke?" Max demanded when he finished reading the card.

"I don't think it's a joke," Liz said, her voice trembling slightly. "I think it's real."

"Liz, it _can't_ be real. The date on this is a year and a half away," Max said, his voice desperate.

"I know Max. _God,_ don't you think I know that? But something isn't right here. Someone is changing things, making them different. There is too much we all remember, and there are too many things that just don't make sense. Nicholas shifted time before, maybe he's doing it again! We have to fix it Max, Alex can't die!" Liz shouted, her voice becoming more and more agitated. 

"What did you say?" Max asked. He reached out and grabbed Liz by the shoulders and began to shake her as he yelled, "Damn it Liz, answer me, what did you just say?"

"I said Alex can't die!" Liz shouted right back at him. "He's my best friend Max, he can't die."

"Before that, what did you say right before that, Liz? You said someone had done this before. Who was it?"

"Nicholas," Liz said slowly. "Nicholas did this before. Him and the other skins came to town. The stuck a big green rod in that billboard outside of town, and it shifted time so that everyone who wasn't an alien disappeared."

"Except for you, Maria, Kyle and his dad," continued Max.

"Because we were all out of town when it happened, but we disappeared, didn't we, one by one?" Liz finished. "And Nicholas is a small dark haired little boy."

"Like the one Isabel thinks she saw driving the truck that almost ran us down," Max finished. He looked down into Liz's dark brown eyes and found his mind filled with flashing memories, but he couldn't tell which were real, and which this Nicholas person had created. He lifted a hand to her cheek and caressed it gently. "It was you," he whispered. "It was you."


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27** – _Tidal Wave of Memories_

Max reached out and touched Liz's cheek, then drew back his hand sharply as he watched her beautiful face transform into a mask of horror. In that one minute, the missing pieces shifted into position, and she knew what it meant. What it meant for her, for Maria, for Isabel, and most of all for Alex. She knew what had to be done, and how it was going to affect them all.

Liz looked up into Max's eyes, and then turned to run. He reached out and grabbed her by the arm, just as the world began to shift and tremble in a way that was becoming all too familiar. As the world around them shifted, Liz felt the memories slowly fade from her mind. She closed her eyes tightly and forced herself to repeat one sentence over and over again.

When the tremors subsided, Max released his grip on Liz's arm, and stepped back. His apology for grabbing her died on his lips when he realized that Liz's lips were moving, softly repeating something over and over again.

"Nicholas has shifted us to an alternate reality. Nicholas has shifted us to an alternate reality. Nicholas has shifted,"

"Liz, Liz!" Max shouted. "Snap out of it." His voice rang out on the deserted street. "What are you talking about?"

"Nicholas, it's Nicholas. He keeps shifting time, Max. He sent us back, back to before Alex died."

"Liz, are you sure you're okay. You didn't fall or anything during that earthquake, did you?" Max asked, looking at her fearfully. "You're really starting to worry me."

"Max, listen," Liz said. "I need you to concentrate. Think hard. This world, this time, it isn't real. Nicholas did it. He shifted time. Remember, he did it once before. Only this time, instead of making people disappear, he,"

"This time, he changed time completely," Max finished. "I know, you said it; more than once, actually. But what kind of proof do you have?"  
Liz felt her hopes rise, then crash down to the ground in a matter of seconds. She felt certain Max would understand, even remember, but he didn't. Nobody did. She took a deep breath.

"Max, listen to me. You didn't save Maria in the CrashDown a few weeks ago. It was me, and it was a couple of years ago. I promised to keep your secret, but I told Maria, and later, we told Alex."

"What about Kyle," Max asked, his voice tinged with jealousy. "Come on," he added, taking Liz by the hand. "Let's start walking. We must look pretty suspicious standing out here so early in the morning."

Liz ignored the jealousy in Max's voice, and tried to ignore the tingle that shot through her body when he took her hand in his. She followed his lead, and began to walk slowly down the residential street, enjoying the sight of the rising sun as it peeked above the mountains in the distance.

"Kyle didn't find out until he was shot and you saved him," Liz said quickly as the memories crashed into her mind like a tidal wave. "Tess and Nescado came t Roswell, as did the Special Unit. You were captured and taken to the White Room."

"The White Room," Max whispered.

Liz looked up at him as they walked and saw the beads of sweat that dotted his brow. It was then that she realized that while his conscious mind may not remember, there was some part of him that did remember their true reality.

"Kyle got shot, and Sheriff Valenti begged you to save him. You did, Max. You saved him just like you saved me. Later, you activated to communicators that gave you a message from your mother. In this message, she explained how you, your sister, her fiancée, and your wife," Liz paused to swallow the bile that threatened to choke her at the word wife. "But the communicators also let your enemies know where you were. You managed to destroy them, but apparently, Nicholas survived."

"Maybe he shifted himself out somehow," said Max. "Before Tess unleashed her conflagration."

"Max, you remember!" Liz shouted. The joy she felt at him remembering overshadowed the pain she felt at hearing Tess' name once again. 

"I do, but I don't," Max admitted. "It's kind of like rereading a book that I read a long time ago. Bits and pieces of it seem familiar, but it's very vague."

"Right," Liz said, bitterly. "Pretty damn convenient. Anyhow, what else do you remember about Tess?"

"She wasn't who she said she was," said Max. "Well, she was, but she wasn't our friend, that's for sure. She had her own agenda." 

"Yeah, she did," said Liz.

"And Alex died because of it," Max said, his voice heavy, his heart heavier.

"Right," Liz said, tears shining in her eyes.

"But it's okay now, isn't it?" asked Max. "I mean, yeah, things are a little different, but Alex is alive."

"I don't think so, Max," said Liz. "I don't think it's okay, on several levels. First, I keep jumping back and forth between the two realities. I don't know how, but I was able to bring this back with me from the real time to this time," said Liz.

She held out her hand, and Max saw the memorial card from Alex's funeral resting on her outstretched palm. He swallowed the tears that threatened to choke him at the sight of his friend's face staring up at him from the memorial card.

"I don't know much about time travel or whatever, but I don't think that should be happening," Liz continued. "But the question remains, why is he doing it this time? Last time it was because Michael destroyed the husks. Why now?"

"It wasn't just for revenge," Max said slowly, trying to process the flood of memories that clogged his mind. "They wanted something. Something _you_ told me not to tell them about."

"The Granolith," said Liz. "But it's gone. Tess used it to go back to Antar with," her voice caught as the painful memories of Max's betrayal in the arms of Tess came rushing back.

"With my son," Max finished.

At his words, Liz stopped and looked down at the ground, trying to hide the tears that filled her eyes.

"We have to shift time back," Max said, suddenly.

"What?" Liz shouted her voice filled with anger. "A few minutes ago, you were all for leaving time the way it was because Alex was alive." 

"And you were saying it wasn't right on several levels," Max said. 

"But Max, if she shift time back to where it belongs, Alex will die," Liz said.

"And if we don't!" Max shouted. "My son will never be!"

Liz glared up at Max and turned and began to walk away. "Maybe that isn't such a bad thing!" she shouted as she ran down the street.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter Twenty-Eight** – _Conundrum_

Liz ran for several blocks before fatigue, coupled with a shortness of breath caused her to slow her pace. Instinctively, she looked over her shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't see Max anywhere in sight. As she walked her hateful parting words to Max rang in her ears.

"What was I thinking?" she groaned to herself. "Why did I say that? It was wrong on just so many levels. I'll be the first to admit that what I know about time travel and the like comes from reading science fiction novels, but they all have one theme in common. Those doing the traveling are supposed to be observers and not mess with the natural order of things."

The sun peaked higher over the horizon as Liz walked, and the air around her heated up, causing her skin to glow with the faint sheen of perspiration. She absently swiped her hand across her forehead, as her feet moved of their own volition, retracing the path she had taken earlier that morning.

"If we don't make things right," she mused. "Will we be messing with the natural order of things. Damn, this is all so confusing. I need to talk to someone but the only person I can think of is Alex, and I can't talk to him about him dying. Or can I?"

"Can you what?" a voice asked behind her.

Liz spun around in fright. She had been so deeply lost in her thoughts that she was unaware of anyone approaching. She bit back a scream and turned to run when the figure reached out and grabbed her by the arm. 

"Liz, what's wrong? You look totally freaked."

"M-Michael," she stammered, a mixture of fear and relief running through her body. "What are you doing here? If you're looking for Max, he's about half a mile back that way," she added as an afterthought. 

"Looking for you, actually," Michael admitted. "Well, I was looking for you, but I couldn't find you anywhere, so I figured I'd try Maxwell."

"Looking for me why?" Liz asked. She took a deep breath and tried to relax but adrenalin kept her heart beating at an accelerated rate.

"It'll keep, what's the matter with you?" Michael asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Um, you scared me?" offered Liz, half-heartedly.

"Not buying it," Michael said. "Now spill."

"I will, but first, why were you looking for me? Seriously, Michael, was it something important?"

"I had one of those dreams," Michael admitted. "It was weird. Max, Isabel and I were with some blond chick in this really strange room. There was this purple glowing thing there, and all of a sudden, I knew I didn't belong there. I was supposed to be someplace else, with, well, with Maria," he tacked on in a rush. "You're turn, spill it."

"I think," said Liz. "No, I'm positive that someone called Nicholas has shifted time and put us in an alternate reality. The thing is, if we go back to our original reality, Alex is going to die. But, if we stay in this reality, Max's son will never be born."

"You lost me," said Michael. "Max doesn't have a son," said Michael. "Wait, that's why we were leaving," he said slowly. "The baby couldn't survive here on Earth. We were going to use the," he paused for a moment. "The granolith!" he cried triumphantly, proud at himself for remembering. "We were going to use the Granolith to go home, but at the last minute, I decided that I belonged here with Maria, and when I exited the Granolith chamber, you, Maria and Valenti were all outside trying to get in."

"To tell Max that Tess had killed Alex," Liz said.

"So what's the problem?" Michael asked. "We stay in this reality, Alex lives, and Max doesn't have to go off on his quest to find his son."

"It isn't that simple," said Liz. "Believe me, I wish it were. I think, we're not supposed to mess with the flow of time. If we do, it could screw up so many different things. I mean, what if, in the other time, someone was close to finding a cure for cancer, or stopping the spread of aids. If we don't restore time to its original path, those things would never happen. I wish there was someone I could talk to who understood all this time travel stuff." 

"How about Alex. Isn't he into the whole sci fi thing?" Michael asked. "Hop on, I'll take you to his house."

"Michael, I can't talk to Alex about this!" Liz cried.

"Why not?" Michael asked. He flung his leg over the seat of his motorcycle and waited expectantly for Liz to climb on.

"How can I tell him that if we restore time, he'll die?"

"How can you not?" Michael shot back. "I'd want to know. I wouldn't want anybody else making that decision for me, but me."

Liz stared at Michael; unable to believe that the most reasonable piece of advice she had heard had come from him.

"That makes a lot of sense," Liz admitted. "It's just weird, I mean how exactly do you present something like that to someone? Oh hey, guess what, we're in the wrong time, but if we go back to the right time, you get to die. So what do you want to do about it?" 

"That's a little to blunt, even for me," Michael admitted with a laugh. "Come on, hop on, you can think about what you're going to say on our way over to Alex's house."

"Oh, wait, uh, we can't go there," said Liz, remembering what she had seen through Alex's bedroom window a short time ago. "I uh, I think Alex has, um, a guest." Her face turned a bright shade of red, and Michael quickly and correctly guessed the gender of Alex's guest.

"All right Alex," Michael crowed. "Who'd have ever imagined old Alex would be getting a little something on the side. Tell you what, let's round up Maria and Valenti, and then go get Max and Isabel. That should give Alex time to get rid of his _guest_."

"No!" Liz shouted. "We can't do that either."

"Why?" asked Michael growing instantly jealous. "Are you trying to tell me that it's Maria over there with that, that geek?" he spluttered. 

"Um, no, it's not Maria," Liz said carefully.

"Ewww, Jesus, you mean he has Valenti over there. Man that is way more information than I ever needed to know."

"Michael!" Liz burst out laughing, despite the delicacy of the situation. "It's not Kyle, either."

"Well, if it's not Maria, and it's not Valenti, and you said Max is back that way, then that only leaves, that son of a bitch," Michael cried when he realized to whom Liz referred. "I'll kill him." 

"Michael. Michael!" Liz yelled, trying to be heard over Michael's ranting. "Calm down. Believe me, I don't think you have to worry about Isabel. If anything, worry about Alex, he's had a crush on Isabel since the third grade."

"No, it's Isabel we need to worry about," said Michael, calming down, rapidly.

Liz looked closely at Michael, surprised to hear the sadness in his voice.

"Isabel doesn't let anybody get close to her. Not me, not Max, not anybody. If she let Alex get this close to her, it will kill her if he dies."


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter Twenty-Nine** – _Quandry_

"So, basically what you're saying is that nothing that is happening right now is real?" Isabel asked. She sat, cross-legged on Alex's bed, looking amazingly unselfconscious at being found there so early in the morning.

Alex reached out and squeezed her hand gently, understanding the hidden meaning behind the question.

"No, what's happening now is real, this time is real, but it isn't where we're supposed to be." He reached out and brushed a stray lock of hair from Isabel's face. "It's real, Isabel, do you understand that. It's real."

"But that time when Nicholas shifted you all away," Isabel said. "You didn't remember any of the time you were gone. You never knew what happened to you."

"I think this time is different," Liz said, breaking into the conversation. "Nicholas keeps losing his grip on whatever it is he's doing to shift time. We're all able to remember things from our real time, and when I crossed over into our real time, I was able to remember things that happened here. I was even able to bring something back with me from our real time."

"Yeah, what?" asked Alex.

"Oh, um, nothing" Liz hedged, unwilling to admit she had a memorial card from Alex's funeral in her pocket.

"Look," said Michael abruptly. "We need to know something, and Liz says you're the one to ask. This thing we're in, what happens if we stay here, and don't go back to our original time."

"Well, I'm no expert but I would think the pattern would erode after time, and we'd be caught in some sort of limbo. Because Nicholas' grasp on the time switch is so tenuous, we've been safe, but if anything were to happen to make this pattern permanent, we would eventually be destroyed," Alex explained.

"What do you mean?" asked Michael. "I'm confused."

"Okay, Nicholas, put us here for a reason, and he must have some way of making it permanent, or else he wouldn't have bothered. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, go on," said Michael.

"But there is something he needs to do to make this reality the only one," Alex continued.

"I'm following you," said Michael.

"The only problem is, our bodies aren't made to shift through time. Maybe yours are, but ours aren't, and eventually, they'll start to degenerate, and we'll die."

"Oh," was all Michael could manage past the crush of emotions that filled his throat. "So like you, Maria and Liz would all die?" 

"Everybody effected by this would die," said Alex, baldly.

Liz looked at Alex, her expression filled with anguish. She wanted to run from the room and hide away, rather than say what had to be said. She took a deep breath, and tried to steady her nerves before she spoke. 

"Alex, about the paper I brought back from the other reality, well, I lied. It wasn't just a piece of paper. It was this."

Liz reached into the pocket of her pants and pulled out the creased memorial card and passed it to Alex. She looked down at her hands while her eyes welled up with tears. Finally, she forced herself to look up and saw Alex staring at the card wordlessly, while Isabel sat there with her hands pressed up to her mouth trying to stop the scream that threatened to erupt.

"H-how did it happen?" Alex asked, his voice hoarse.

"Tess mind warped you into decoding the some stupid book from their world. She mind warped you so much; your brain couldn't take it any longer. Eventually you started to remember what happened, and she tried once more into warping you into forgetting. It killed you," Liz spoke through the tears that filled her eyes and choked her voice. "She put you in a car, and used her powers to put the car in the path of an oncoming truck."

For several minutes, the four sat silent lost in the memories of another life, another time. Finally Isabel spoke.

"Why isn't she here now?" she asked. "Tess, shouldn't she be here?"

"She didn't show up until halfway through the school year, Liz said. Maybe we're not, oh hell, I don't know what I'm saying." 

"No, you may be on to something," said Alex, struggling to put the fact that he was dead aside. "Nicholas brought us back to the time that brought us all together, when Liz got shot."

"Only this time, Maria got shot," said Liz. "I would have gotten shot but Maria pushed me out of the way. Instead I almost got hit by a truck, twice."

"And attacked, or almost attacked," Michael added slowly.

"Michael, what are you saying?" Isabel asked, her voice tinged with panic. 

"I'm saying, I think Nicholas is trying to stop Liz from living. If she had died in the other time, the real time, none of us would have ended up together," Michael said.

"But if we stop him, Alex will die," said Liz.

"If we don't, you'll probably die, and so will the rest of the world," said Alex. "Any way you cut it, someone is going to die." 

"Alex, you can't," said Isabel.

"Nobody's doing anything, Isabel, just relax," Alex said. He reached out and laid a soothing hand on her leg but she shoved it away angrily. 

"Don't you dare try and patronize me," she cried.

"And don't you try and tell me what I can and can't do," Alex replied calmly.

Liz sat and wondered for a moment what their lives would have been like if Alex hadn't been murdered. What kind of life would Isabel and Alex had, had they been given the chance to have a life together? 

"The question remains, what is it that Nicholas wants?" asked Alex. "Why is he trying to stop Max from healing Liz and from," he stopped, and struggled to remember. A faint memory tickled the edges of his mind, teasing him, darting into the forefront then dancing away as the images started to solidify.

"If Max never healed me," said Liz. "Then we'd probably never end up together, and Michael never would have destroyed the husks for the skins," she said triumphantly. "They can't live on earth. They have to use these husks to house their bodies, and Michael destroyed them all!"

"And Nicholas came after us to get something," continued Isabel. "He wanted something we had."

"The Granolith," Michael and Liz said together. "He wants the Granolith."

"We need to find Max, Kyle and Maria," said Liz. "We need to figure out what to do, but it has to be all of us. The four of us can't make this decision. We all need to lay all our cards out on the table and come up with a plan."

Liz pulled out her cell phone and quickly dialed Maria's number. She spoke briefly to her, and repeated the process with Kyle, while Isabel contacted Max. Within minutes, plans were set in motion, and the four left, with heavy hearts, to go to the arranged meeting place.


	30. Chapter 30

**A.N.** This was supposed to be the last part, but a late night text fest with TrueLovePooh made me realize there was more to be written. So this part is dedicated to her. Thanks Pooh, for making me remember the importance of goodbyes.

_Winds of Change_

**Chapter Thirty** – _Never Say Goodbye_

They arrived without fanfare, at the cliffs overlooking the deserted quarry. For a while, they all stood silently, looking at each other and pondering the events that brought this strange group together. One by one, Liz, Alex, Michael, Isabel and Max shared what they remembered and their theories on how time was changed and what the outcome would be.

Silence reigned as everybody digested the massive amounts of information that had been shared. Maria was the first to break the silence that threatened to overwhelm them.

"So how do we fix this?" she asked.

"I don't think we can," said Alex. "Liz thinks the Granolith is important, but I'm not to sure, but it's worth checking out." 

"What about Nicholas?" asked Max. "We need to find him, before he finds us." By us, he meant Liz, and everybody knew it. For some unknown reason Liz seemed to be his intended victim.

"I've been thinking about that," said Alex. "Do you suppose if he eliminates her, it will seal this reality and destroy the other one? I mean in our time, the real time, Max saved Liz. Maybe he planned all along for Liz to die. Does it make any sense?"

"Yeah, it makes all together too much sense," said Max, bitterly. "Like I said, we need to find him before he finds us."

"He usually seems to find us," said Michael. "I mean, none of us really knows what he looks like, so it's not like we can go looking for him."

"I know what he looks like," said Isabel. "He's a mean, nasty, spiteful man forced into the body of a mean, nasty, spiteful 12 year old boy. But when he looks at me, it's not with the eyes of the boy, it's with the eyes of the man he used to be."

A hot wind circled around them stirring the dust up, and filling their eyes with grit. The sun beat down on them, and in the sky, a lone bird wafted on the air currents, drawing their attention upward for a moment.

"So, does anybody have a plan or something?" asked Maria.

Nobody answered, but all eyes turned to Max, and he blanched under their scrutiny.

"Why is everybody looking at me?" he asked. "I'm not in charge?" 

"Max, you used to be a King on your old world," Liz said, gently. "People look to you for leadership, even now."

"I'm not a king," said Max. "I'm just a kid, I can't be in charge."

"Well, somebody needs to make a decision, Maxwell," Michael said. "Does _anybody_ have any ideas or suggestions?"

"I guess maybe we should split up or something, and Liz should _not_ be in the group that goes looking for Nicholas" Max volunteered. 

"And the man says he's not a leader," Kyle said, his voice laced with sarcasm.

"Do you have a better idea, Valenti?" demanded Max.

"Far be it from me to step on the toes of El Presidente," said Kyle, holding his hands up. "By all means, let's split up. As long as I'm not in your group, I'm good."

"Look, before anybody goes anywhere, and before this turns into a testosterone fest, can I talk to Liz, Maria and Kyle alone?" Alex asked. "Why don't you three start brainstorming some places for us to search, and we'll be done in a minute."

Alex waited until the other three walked a short distance away before he turned to the others.

"I suppose you're wondering why I called you all here today," he quipped.

"Alex, don't," Liz said, her voice catching slightly. She knew what he was doing, and she didn't think she was going to be able to deal with it.

"Liz, I have to," Alex said. "I didn't get to before, and if there is any chance that any of you will remember this, I need to do it." 

Liz nodded, and scrubbed her hands across her cheek, wiping away the tears that covered her face.

"Kyle, look, Isabel is going to need you when this is all through. Be there for her," asked Alex. "Be her friend."

"Count on it, man," Kyle said. He held out his hand in an uncharacteristic gesture of maturity, and Alex reached out to grasp it, tightly. 

Alex released Kyle's hand and turned to Maria, who was sobbing, silently. He opened his arms to her, and she fell into them, and he held her tightly, as her shoulders shook.

"Maria, don't," Alex whispered, rubbing her back, gently. "It isn't going to change anything."

"I know, but it's wrong. It's just so wrong," Maria wailed. "You, me and Liz, we've been friends fo-forever. I can't stand the thought of losing you."

"Maria, I'm already gone," Alex said softly. "You're not losing me again, you're getting a chance to say goodbye. We didn't get to do that, at least I don't think we did," he added. "Now we can, and I can tell you how very special you are, and lucky I am for knowing you."

"I love you, Alex," Maria whispered, her voice breaking.

She pulled away from his arms and turned to Kyle who held her tightly, while Alex turned to look at Liz.

"Hey, Parker," he said, smiling gamely.

"Hey, Whitman," Liz replied through her tears.

"So, did you ever think, way back when we were sitting in Mrs. Sullivan's science class that we'd be standing here trying to change the space time continuum or whatever?"

"No, Alex, I can honestly say that it never once crossed my mind," she half sobbed, half laughed.

"Yeah, me either. Look, you know it has to happen this way, right?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, I guess I do," Liz admitted. "But I hate it, Alex. I really hate it."

"Like I told Maria, it's already happened, this is just like a bonus, a chance for us to say goodbye."

"No," Liz whispered. "No goodbyes. I'll never say goodbye to you, Alex. You'll always be in my heart."

"I know that," Alex said. "And you'll always be in mine."

The two friends hugged tightly, saying their last farewells. Alex pulled away slightly and whispered something to Liz and passed a small envelope to her. She nodded, and slipped it in her pocket, and the two, along with Kyle and Maria, made their way to where Max, Michael and Isabel waited a short distance away.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter Thirty-One** – _Searching_

"I wish I could remember more," said Liz after the two groups reformed. "I can see it, but I can't tell you where it is. I just know the Granolith is important for some reason."

"It's okay, Liz. We have a couple of places we can check," said Max, rubbing her back, gently. He didn't know what Alex had said to her, though he had a pretty good guess, and he could see that she was really upset. "Michael keeps getting these images of a cave with some strange symbols in it." He looked over at Michael for confirmation.

"Yeah, I uh, well, I think it's out on that Indian place," he said. "I don't know why, but I think it's important. Maybe we should check it out."

"Indian place?" Maria asked. "How incredibly politically correct of you, Michael.

"Right," said Max. "It sounds like a good place to start. I was thinking about going to the place, well the place where we came from." 

"What!" Maria shouted. "I'm not taking off to outer space, girlfriend. I'll go to the 'Indian place' with Michael."

"What happened to political correctness?" Michael whispered.

"That's not exactly what I had in mind, Maria," Max laughed. "But, well, we didn't just arrive here in a beam of light, we,"

"The pod chamber," said Liz, breathlessly. "Out by Pullman Ranch." 

"Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking about. How do you know about it? We've never told anybody."

"I keep remembering bits and pieces of things," said Liz. "They just swim in and out of my mind."

"Yeah, it's happening to me, too," Max admitted. He looked down at Liz's upturned face and found himself getting lost in the depths of her eyes.

"Uh, excuse me," interjected Maria. "But fun as this is, I don't want to spend the rest of my day watching the two of you drool over each other, so I'm going with Space Boy over here to go cave hunting, okay?"

"Yeah, and we'll head back to town and see if we can track down Nicholas," said Isabel. Her voice shook when she spoke but it was the only betrayal of the emotion she was feeling.

"Uh, sure," said Liz, her gaze never leaving Max's. "We'll catch up with you later."

"I wonder if they were like this in the other time line?" pondered Alex.

"Trust me, it was much worse," said Maria, as they walked away from Max and Liz. "I may not be remembering much about what went on, but I can promise you, beyond a shadow of a doubt that what we just saw was mild!"

"Wow, they sure are wrapped up in each other," Maria said to Michael as she steered her mother's Jetta down the dusty highway."

"Yeah," agreed Michael. "Turn here." He pointed to a dusty road leading of the highway with a sign indicating they were entering the Mescalero Indian Reservation. "Yeah, well, Maxwell's just being stupid," said Michael, picking up the thread of the conversation. "We don't belong here. We're just visitors here. We shouldn't waste our time getting caught up in something that isn't going to last."

"That's kind of harsh, don't you think?" asked Maria as the car bumped down a rutted dirt lane. "I mean, you're shutting yourself off to all sorts of possibilities for something that might never happen." 

"Yeah, whatever. Look, pull up here," said Michael, gesturing with his hand. "We have to walk from here."

"Walk? Walk?" asked Maria, parking the car and opening the door. "Nobody said anything about physical exercise. I'm not an exercise kind of person."

"Do you ever stop talking?" Michael asked with a long-suffering sigh. He pushed some tall grasses out of the way and led Maria up a faint dirt path.

"Not usually, said Maria. "Hey, look, it's a real cave. Uh, there aren't any bats in there, are there?"

Michael didn't bother to respond, he just stepped into the mouth of the cave and turned on the flashlight he had brought from the car. The beam flashed against the roof of the cave and against the walls, and Michael made a discouraged sound.

"There's nothing here," he said in disgust.

He turned to exit the cave, but Maria stopped him, and grabbed the flashlight out of his hand. She pointed the beam of light at the far wall of the cave, and watched as Michael stepped forward. He reached out and touched the engravings on the wall.

"I know these," he said. "Maria, it's a map. I know it. No, I don't know it, I _remember_ it. I remember. Maria, I remember _everything._

He turned to look at Maria and saw the tears streaming down her face. 

"Space Boy," she sobbed, as the memories came rushing back. "You stayed. You stayed for me. You said I was your home, your family."

"We need to find the others," Michael said, holding his hand out to Maria. "I think we need to be there when," he stopped, unable to say the words.

"Yeah, I think you're right," said Maria.

Together they exited the cave, climbed back into the Jetta and began the journey back to Roswell.

"This is it," Max said, stepping back to allow Liz access to the pod chamber. "This is where we were born."

"Oh, Max, it's just, I don't know," Liz said in awe.

She looked at the four chambers, and then at Max, but he was oblivious to everything. He mind was focused completely inward.

"Max?" 

"It's here," Max said, softly. He pushed through one of the chambers that housed his pod and gained access to the room that hid the Granolith. "Liz, this is it, come on."

Liz clambered through the entry behind Max and stood and stared in awe at the Granolith.

_That's it,_ she thought to herself. _That's the thing that Alex died for; the thing she seduced Max for. She wanted a way home, and she got it. It didn't matter who suffered._

Liz turned, her attention captured by the sound of retching, and she found Max kneeling in a corner, one hand on his stomach, the other braced against the wall as dry heaves wracked his body.

"Max, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Liz cried, in a panic. Memories of Michael's illness came flooding back. What if it was happening to Max. What would she do? She stood beside him, feeling helpless, rubbing his back, talking softly until the spasms subsided.

"God, I'm sorry," Max whispered. "Liz, I remember, I really remember it _all._ I thought I remembered everything, but seeing the Granolith brought it all back. Everything we went through, everything I did to you; everything _you_ did for us. I betrayed you in the worst way possible. Can you ever forgive me?"

"I already did, Max. In another time, I forgave you, and I forgive you now," Liz said.

"Whatever we're looking for, it isn't here," said Max. "Let's go find the others and we'll think of something else."


	32. Chapter 32

**Author's Note:** Thanks again to TrueLovePooh for listening to me rant, rave, whine and cry about this part. And thanks so much for her help with Alex's letter. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get it right. So thank you Pooh for all your help and support.

_Winds of Change_

**Chapter Thirty-Two** – _Receprocity_

"So, what are we looking for?" Kyle asked to nobody in particular as he, Alex and Isabel drove down Roswell's main street. He patted his jacket pocket surreptitiously; making sure the envelope Liz had slipped him was still in there.

"We'll know it when we see it," Isabel replied. "In the mean time, just keep your eyes open."

She leaned forward between the bucket seats of Kyle's Mustang and grabbed Alex's hand and squeezed it gently.

"We're going to figure a way out of all of this," she said, quietly. "Max will figure something out."

Alex gave her hand a reassuring squeeze even though he knew deep in his heart there wasn't any solution. They had to shift things back to the way they were supposed to be.

"Kyle, pull over there," Isabel said suddenly, pointing to an area set aside for tour busses to park.

Without a word, Kyle swung into a parking space and climbed out of the car. Alex climbed out of the passenger side, and reached in and helped Isabel out of the cramped back seat.

"He's here," she said, softly. "I don't know how I know, but he's here. Nicholas!" she called. "Come out come out wherever you are."

"Um, Isabel, maybe it's not wise to taunt the psycho alien," said Kyle. "Did you ever think of that?"

"Shut up Kyle, if you're afraid, why don't you wait here by the car," Isabel snapped and stalked off down the street in search of Nicholas. 

"Well that was pretty harsh, don't you thing?" Kyle asked Alex's departing back as he followed after Isabel.

Kyle reached into his car and withdrew something and jogged off down the street after Alex and Isabel, catching up with them as they entered a nearby park. Out of nowhere a bolt of energy shot past them, grazing Kyle face, knocking him to the ground. Alex reached out and grabbed Isabel's hand and pulled her down one of the park's many jogging paths.

"It's over Vilondra," an eerie voice called from nearby. "You were foolish to think you could defeat me. Now where is the Granolith?" 

"Come out and play with the big kids, Nicholas, and maybe I'll tell you," taunted Isabel. She pulled away from Alex and stepped of the path and into a large grassy area. "Come on, Nicholas, come out and play." 

A small figure stepped out from behind a tree and smiled at Isabel. 

"As always, Vilondra, you're braver than you are smart," said Nicholas. "Tell me where the Granolith is, and I'll make your death painless.

Isabel's answer was a bolt of energy fired straight at Nicholas. It hit him square on the chest, but instead of destroying him, he seemed to absorb it into his body. He began to laugh manically, and Isabel fired another bolt in his direction. Nicholas' response was to fire another bolt of energy at Isabel, just barely missing her as she spun out of the way, falling to the ground as she avoided the killing blast.

Isabel pulled herself up, shocked to see Alex running across the grass and throwing himself on top of Nicholas.

"Alex, no!" she shouted.

"Foolish human," Nicholas laughed, using his powers to push Alex away. "Another man, ready to die for you, Vilondra. How sweet. You can watch while I kill him."

"No!" Isabel shouted. "He can watch while I kill you!"

Again, Alex tackled Nicholas, bringing him to the ground.

"Kill him Isabel, do it!" he shouted.

"Wait!" a voice called out.

Kyle came limping into view, the baseball bat he had grabbed from his car in his hand.

"Smash him on the lower back. It will break the seal on his husk! It's the only way!"

He threw the bat to Isabel, and collapsed to the ground, the burn mark from Nicholas' energy bolt making his face look like a grotesque mask.

Isabel reached out and grabbed the fallen bat and ran over to the spot where Nicholas and Alex struggled.

"Alex," she called out.

Alex looked up and saw Isabel and rolled away from Nicholas and pulled himself up to a standing position.

Isabel looked over Nicholas' head to where Alex stood. She saw the love shining in his eyes and she knew that she would never love, nor be loved as much ever again. Alex gave a slight nod, and she brought the baseball bat crashing down on the small of Nicholas' back, breaking the seal on his husk. His body collapsed in on itself, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes. "I love you Alex," she called out looking around, but it was too late, Alex was gone.

Isabel fell to the ground sobbing, while the earth spun wildly around her. When the spinning subsided, she was still on the ground, crying while a small group of children played nearby. A pair of strong arms wrapped around her, and she stiffened at first, then allowed herself to relax against Kyle. Her friend.

"I didn't think it would be this hard," she whispered.

"I know, I know. Come on, Isabel. I think I know where we need to be," he said.

He stood up and held out his hands to her, and helped her from the ground.

The two walked in silence to Kyle's car. He helped her into the car and buckled her seatbelt like she was a child. He climbed into the passenger seat and started the car. He started to pull away when he noticed Isabel staring at his face.

"What is it?" he asked. "Do I have something on my face?"

"You have a scar, Kyle. You never did before," she said.

"It's leftover from Nicholas," Kyle said ruefully. "I guess our memories weren't the only thing to make it back to this time." He reached into his pocket and felt the reassuring crinkle of paper, and heaved a sigh of relief. Whatever it was that Liz had given him had made it back.

"Max can probably fix that," said Isabel.

"Maybe," Alex replied. He didn't know if he would have Max remove the scar, it seemed a fitting memorial for Alex Whitman.

A short drive brought them to the cemetery where Alex had been laid to rest. Kyle smiled slightly when he saw Max's Chevelle, and Maria's Jetta waiting for them. His friends were nothing if not predictable at times. He climbed out of the car and came around to the passenger side and opened the door for Isabel. After she got out, he reached into his pocket and gave her the envelope.

"You may want to read this," he said.

The pair walked to Alex's grave and found Liz, Max, Maria and Michael waiting for them, all of them with tearstained faces.

"Isabel," Liz began.

"I know, Liz," Isabel whispered, leaning down to hug the smaller girl. "It hurts so bad."

"Did Kyle give you the letter?"

"Yeah," Isabel sniffed.

"We'll give you some privacy," said Liz. "But we won't be far away." 

"Thanks," Isabel whispered. She waited until the small group moved away before she opened the envelope.

_Dear Isabel, ___

_The love I feel for you, transcends time and space. I'll always be with you, Isabel. Never doubt that. Don't morn my death, because a part of me will always live on in you. When you need me, I'll be there for you. Liz and Maria will be ok, yes they will miss me and I will miss them but they have Max and Michael. You need to remember you're not alone, and you all need each other, never forget that. Listen to Kyle, he's a good friend and will be there for all of you. I will never regret knowing you and loving you…you gave me something a lot of people don't get in their life, Love. Thank you for that. I wish I could have stayed but you know that it would have put everyone we love in jeopardy. Be strong Isabel, the way only you can be, until we can be together again. ___

_Yours forever, ___

_Alex_

Isabel wiped away a tear and smiled. Alex would always be with her, she knew it; she could feel him. He was right. Alex was in her heart and soul, and always would be. Someday, they would be together again, but until then, she, like the others would live.

Isabel knelt down and pressed her hand against Alex's gravestone as if saying goodbye. Max, Liz, and the others came to stand beside her, each of them drawing strength from the others.

The turned to walk away as a shaft of sunlight shined down on Alex's grave, almost as if preordained. It glinted off of his gravestone highlighting the words that hadn't been there a moment before. 

_He sacrificed himself so that we would live._

The End


End file.
